Manitou Incline
Manitou Incline Trail Conditions Mid January 2012
The sunny, warm days have continued to melt the snow from before Christmas off the Incline. There are still some snowpacked and icy spots though.
Here are the Incline trail conditions on Thursday, January 12th 2012. Most of the lower part of the Incline was clear. The Incline was snowpacked halfway up where the tracks split where it doesn’t get much sun. Once above that section, it was mostly clear until the false summit. Above the false summit, it was snowpacked and icy.
The social trail to Barr trail only had a couple small icy spots. There were some icy spots on Barr Trail but it wasn’t too bad. The worst is some of the icy spots have a thin layer of dirt & gravel over top so it’s hard to tell that it’s icy. There were a couple big shoe slide marks on those so pay attention.
Currently experienced hikers should be able to hike the Manitou Incline without traction devices as long as caution is used on the icy sections. Coming down the top section of the Incline could be tricky though. Carrying Kahtoola MicroSpikes, YakTrax, or Stabilicers Lite would still be a good idea.
Winter Has Come to the Incline
With the dry fall and early winter, the Manitou Incline has been mostly free of snow and ice. That all changed with the 2 snow storms the week before Christmas.
Although the snow has melted off sections of the Incline and Barr Trail, there’s still plenty of ice. Often the ice from the melting and freezing is more slippery than when the snow first falls. It’s a pretty time of year on the Manitou Incline but use Kahtoola MicroSpikes, YakTrax, or Stabilicers Lite and be safe.
Here are some photos from December 23, 2011 and include the tree decorated at the the top of the Incline with Christmas decorations.
Manitou Incline Open House January 20th, 2011
The long climb to legalizing hiking the Manitou Incline is taking another step on January 20. There will be an open house about the draft Manitou Incline management plan from 5 to 7 p.m. at Manitou City Hall, 606 Manitou Ave. Instead of a presentation, there will be stations that cover the various topics of the management plan.
I haven’t found info on what changes they’ve made to the draft Manitou Incline plan since it was presented in October. The 2 most unpopular rules were only allowing hiking from dawn to dusk and no dogs. Also those at the October meeting didn’t feel the plan really had any plan to address the parking issues.
I’ve been told that the main fundraising for money to repair and maintain the Manitou Incline will be done through the Incline Friends group. The Trails and Open Space Coalition is facilitating creating the Incline Friends. It is free to join the group. E-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or call at 719-633-6884.
The friends group needs volunteer help in these areas:
- Leadership and Coordination
- Fundraising
- Partnerships and sponsorships
- Grantwriting
- Education/Outreach
- Volunteer coordination
- Maintenance and Construction – physical labor on the Incline.
The open house tomorrow isn’t the final meeting. The recommended plan will also be presented at the public meetings of various appointed and elected bodies of Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs over the coming two months before it will hopefully be approved by the landowners later this spring. The other planned meetings are:
- TOPS Working Committee: February 2, 7:30 a.m. Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department, 1401 Recreation Way
- Parks and Recreation Advisory Board: February 10, 7:30 a.m. Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department, 1401 Recreation Way
- Colorado Springs City Council: February 22, 1 p.m. Colorado Springs City Hall, 107 N. Nevada Avenue
- Manitou Springs Planning Commission: March 9, 7 p.m. Manitou Springs City Hall, 606 Manitou Avenue
- Manitou Springs City Council – TBA.
Time to Hike the Manitou Incline
The Manitou Incline is just under a mile but climbs 2,000 vertical feet. So how long does it take people to hike up it?
Times of under 20 minutes for world class athletes pass around the local hiking community and in news articles. I have some friends that can hike the Manitou Incline in the low 20 minutes. My best time over 10 years ago was 29 1/2 minutes. I’m much slower than that now.
Colorado Springs has many very fit athletes so there are plenty of people hiking the Manitou Incline in under 30 minutes but from what I’ve seen the average Incline hiker is making it to the top in 40 – 60 minutes. Many first timers and people from lower elevations are taking well over an hour.
The accepted spot to time yourself is from the bottom tie right above the Pikes Peak Cog Railway parking lot. Stop timing at the last tie at the top.
Don’t be fooled by these times. These times and the times people talk about are just for going up the Incline. There’s no way to magically end up back at the bottom so you need to factor coming back down into your hiking plans.
Although the rules for using the Incline stop short of prohibiting coming back down the Incline, they recommend one way up for safety. The most popular way and recommended way to get back down is to go to the left (when facing uphill) and then down the connector trail to the Barr Trail. Going this way down takes about 45-50 minutes at a quick walking pace with no stops.
There are a few places with Manitou Incline times listed. Pikes Peak Sports has a Manitou Incline honor roll. The Incline Club has more official times from when they used to “run” the Incline before the No Trespassing sign was put up in June of 2000 (scroll down page to see the times).
Manitou Incline Draft Plan to be Presented Tonight
The next public meeting on legalizing hiking the Manitou Incline is tonight (Thursday, October 21st) at 7 PM at Manitou’s City Hall. The draft Manitou Incline plan will be presented and people will be able to give their feedback. The plan is based on input from the Incline meeting in June plus 3 focused workshops held in July.
The Forest Service had estimated that about 70,000 trips were made up the Incline a year. To get a better count, the task force put an automated counter on the No Trespassing sign. In September it counted 23,562 hikers. I don’t know if it was sophisticated enough to count just those going up or if it also counted people when they came down.
I know the couple times I was on the Incline in September there were probably only about half the hikers that I saw in June and July. The winter months see much lower usage so it’s possible that’s close to the average over the year. That would mean there could be 300,000 or more trips up the Incline a year.
The plan lays out 3 different stages, A, B and C. Stage A proposals are low cost for the most part and ares limited to management requirements for legally opening the Manitou Incline and critical improvements.
A couple things in the plan are hiking will only be allowed from dawn to dusk and that dogs won’t be allowed. Go to UltraRob.com for more information on the draft Manitou Incline plan.
Public Meetings about Manitou Incline
Hiking the Manitou Incline has continued to grow more popular even though it’s illegal. The U.S. Forest Service has estimated that 70,000 people use the Incline annually.
This Thursday evening, June 24th, there will be a meeting to get public input on the Manitou Incline. It will be held at Manitou Springs City Hall, 606 Manitou Avenue, from 7 to 9 PM. Manitou Springs also has a project page with more information and maps of the Manitou Incline.
The following additional public meetings will be hosted in July at Manitou Springs City Hall.
- July 13th – Traffic and Parking Focus Area Session, 6 – 9 p.m.
- July 14th – Trails and Trailhead Focus Area Session, 6 – 9 p.m.
- July 15th – Management and Operations Focus Area Session, 6 – 9 p.m.
The planning process is funded by Great Outdoors Colorado and the Hill Family Foundation. The final plan will be presented to the Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs City Councils in February 2011.
For more information, please contact Aimee Cox at 719-385-6532 or aicox@springsgov.com.
THE INCLINE IS PRIVATE PROPERTY AND POSTED NO TRESPASSING. PUBLIC ACCESS ON THE INCLINE IS NOT ALLOWED. TRESPASSING ON THE INCLINE IS ILLEGAL.
Man Injured on Incline Brought Down by Search and Rescue
56 year old Paul Cohen is reported to have tripped and fallen on the Incline today. He impaled his leg on rebar and was seriously bleeding. Rebar has been used by underground volunteers to help keep ties in place.
Cohen fell soon after noon. El Paso County Search and Rescue took him down Barr Trail in a litter. He was then taken by ambulance to the hospital.
Read the Gazette article here.
Brush Fires Near Manitou Incline
Yesterday winds up to 70 mph caused problems in the area near the Manitou Incline. There were 8 small fires down near the Pikes Peak Cog Railway from a blown transformer and powerlines blown down. About one acre burned without any major damage.
KKTV has a few more details.
