Historic Stillwater Stairs a popular tourist destination and workout zone
STILLWATER, Minn. — It's a city known for its sites. Out-of-towners come for the beautiful St. Croix, the bustling restaurants and, believe it or not, they also come for the stairs.
"People love it. They come from all over the world to see Stillwater," said Steve Ayers.
Steve and his brother, Brad, have the steepest of sibling rivalries. They grew up in Stillwater and their high school track coach had them running the main street stairs just to get in shape.
They're a necessary workout when your pastime centers around climbing the likes of Mount Everest, Mount Kilimanjaro and even the Grand Canyon.
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"It's the best prep work you can do when you actually get out to climb," said Steve, who is also a fitness trainer.
"You can't get it better than here. Your lungs are burning when you get to the top," said Brad Ayers.
Built in 1857, the stairs were originally wood. Because Stillwater is like a little San Francisco, they were necessary to take brewery workers from the top of the 100-foot bluff down to Main Street. Around 1970, concrete replaced wood, but over time, that too crumbled.
"About 12 years ago we adopted them, and we cleaned them and shoveled, but they weren't pretty," said Sara Jespersen.
That's when Jespersen helped the city secure a $10,000 grant to preserve the Stillwater stairs.
"We were able to tuckpoint the stairs and create benches and do some plantings and add a light for safety," said Jespersen. "I think they became more of a point of interest for tourism once they started to look lovely."
It's 152 steps from the bottom to the top. Apparently, if you walk it enough, each step develops its own personality.
"These up here are a little bit older and they are kind of nasty. They are crabby at you," said Brad.
It's estimated that every four sets you do is about a mile. When the Ayers brothers are getting ready for a mountain excursion, they've been known to do 75 sets in a day.
Here, you have to concentrate, or you'll fall flat on your face, but no matter how tired you get, it's worth it — just to see the view from the top.
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"I'm gassed but it's great," said Brad.
"Without the training of having these steps, there is no way I would have ever made it to Everest base camp. There's no way," said Steve.
Stillwater has seven sets of stairs near downtown that both tourists and workout warriors are known to frequent.
