2,700 Steps Later: Local Fitness Crew Crush the Manitou Incline

"One hour, twenty-nine minutes, forty-five seconds. That was horrible."- Heather Yeiser, Saturday, May 16th, 2026.

But, she did it. They ALL did it! Heather and six of her Iron Jungle Family Fitness friends- Sheila Irwin (who led the charge), Angie Peters, Linda Long, Julie Hill, Yuli Soto-Garcia, and Travis Newton- scaled the Manitou Incline in Colorado Springs over the weekend.

WHAT IS THE MANITOU INCLINE?

In case you're unfamiliar, the Manitou Incline is hailed as one of the most challenging feats for hikers to master here in the United States. It's a haul up a mountain full of steps. To be exact, there are over 2,700 of them!

Shelia snapped this photo when she reached the very last one!

By the way, before the friends embarked on this epic adventure, Heather called it. She said Shelia is really competitive and would get to the top before the rest of the team. As expected, she delivered!  Sheila, who was joined at the head of the pack by Travis, left her friends behind as she trudged to the top, but she's really glad they made the journey with her.

Shelia shared this on social media:

What started out as a solo trip to mark Manitou Incline off my bucket list soon turned into errrybody was going. Thanks for crashing my trip guys.

 

As for Heather, she's happy she crashed the party. She admits, "We knew Shelia and Travis would leave us. LOL." She's also "absolutely glad" she made the trip up the mountainside too.

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Heather says, "It's an amazing feeling of accomplishment!"

But there's no doubt, that accomplishment burned at times. Heather says, "I think the hardest part was around Step #1800 where the degree went up to about 68 and the steps got super narrow. You had to go up sideways to get your foot on the steps."

She also remembers going past the "last bailout point." She says, "You knew that was it!"

On Sunday morning, the group of friends sat in the Denver airport awaiting their flight back to the Tristate. They have all marked something pretty challenging and terrific off their bucket list. I guess the only question is this- what figurative or literal mountain will they climb together next?