In 2011 Greg Cummings became the first person to climb the Manitou Incline 500 times in a year with a total of 601 times. His record was broken by Roger Austin in 2013 when he climbed it 719 times. Greg reclaimed his record his record in 2014 with 1,400 times in 330 days. Roger once again broke the record in 2015 with 1,719 times.
Roger’s record has stood for a few years but Greg, now 61 and recently retired has set his eyes on the record once again. Greg’s achievements and new effort are even more impressive considering he has Type 1 diabetes. He caries a blood sugar monitor and regularly pricks his fingers to make sure his blood sugar is where it needs to be as he hikes up and down.
I chatted with Greg on Wednesday, February 27th as he made his way down from his 6th climb of the day. He said he had just completed climb 247 in the 47 days starting January 12th. Most days he’s making multiple climbs but on Saturday he only completed one since he spent 8 hours sweeping the several inches of fresh snow off the top couple thousand of steps.
Greg is using his record attempt to fund raise for Camp Wapiyapi. The camp near Woodland Park is for kids with cancer.
