Climb 2,744 railroad ties up a stripped funicular railbed
2,744 ties, 2,000 feet, 0.9 miles
A 0.9 mile ascent up the abandoned bed of the Mount Manitou incline railway, on the railroad ties that remained after the rails were removed.
Why it's unique
This is not a staircase built for hikers. It is the bed of a cable railway that hauled materials up the mountain from 1907 and later carried tourists, until a rockslide ended the service in 1990. The rails were pulled out and the sleepers left behind, which is why the surface underfoot is 2,744 railroad ties rather than steps.
The numbers are what make it notorious: roughly 2,000 vertical feet in nine tenths of a mile, at sustained grades between 43 and 68 percent. It became legal for recreational use in 2013 and is now free, though a reservation is required, which is a combination you rarely get on a climb this severe.
Before you go
It is free but a free reservation is required, and people still turn up without one. Book before you drive out.
It is one direction only. You go up the ties and come down Barr Trail, which is around three miles of switchbacks and the part almost everyone underestimates, so budget for the descent rather than just the climb. There is a false summit near the top that is a genuine morale problem if you meet it without warning. Start early in summer: there is no shade on the ties and the afternoon storms on the Front Range are not a myth.