SF Stair Challenge gets love on TV, Total SF podcast, & more!
Our new event has gotten a huge response, tapping into the love of stairway walks
We had a feeling we were onto a big idea when Walk SF started planning the first ever SF Stair Challenge coming up on May 6: a 2,000 step, 4-mile walk connecting some of the city’s iconic stairways into one scenic adventure.
After all, San Francisco is a stair city. San Francisco Chronicle reporter Peter Hartlaub posited the question: Is San Francisco the best stairway city in the world? (Obviously, yes.)
We brought the idea for a stairway walk to the team of volunteers who design all of Walk SF’s walks. ‘WalkLab’ is the braintrust behind everything from our annual Peak2Peak hike in the fall and the do-it-yourself, off-the-beaten-path walks we send to Walk SF members every quarter (join Walk SF today to get the most recent one!).
Nancy Botkin is part of WalkLab, and took the lead in designing the inaugural SF Stair Challenge. Nancy’s encyclopedic knowledge of stairs began decades ago when she worked her way through the Adah Bakalinsky classic, “Stairway Walks in San Francisco.”
I’ll let you learn more about Nancy, her favorite stairways, and get ideas for your own stair walks in three interesting and inspiring ways:
- On a special segment on ABC 7 with reporter Juan Carlos Guerrera
- On the April 28, 2023 Total SF podcast from the San Francisco Chronicle with Heather Knight and Peter Hartlaub
- In a feature story in the San Francisco Chronicle by Heather Knight
Lastly, a shout-out to Alexandra Kenin, who’s building a database of every San Francisco stairway! Check out her project and map.
This year’s SF Stair Challenge is already sold out, but you can join the waiting list and be the first to hear about tickets for the 2024 SF Stair Challenge on Saturday, May 4, 2024.
