(MANITOU SPRINGS, Colo.) — Each year on 9/11, first responders, along with military service members and veterans, band together to hike the Manitou Springs Incline in honor of the nearly 3,000 lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001, including the heroes who answered the call for help and never returned home.
On Thursday morning, FOX21 News Chief Photojournalist Dez Rowe captured the annual memorial hike and spoke with those in attendance.
“Today, we have a bunch of people hiking the Manitou Incline in remembrance of 9/11 and everyone who lost their lives in that event and past that event,” said Craig Luebbers, Squad Leader of the Florence SORT team. “We carry the SCBAs, which weigh about 30 pounds, and [are used] so that firefighters can breathe whenever the smoke gets too much.”
Each step is a somber tribute to the firefighters who ran into the Twin Towers to help those inside, not knowing that those final moments would be their last.
“Doing the hike, doing what they did, hiking up all those towers, all those stairs, with even more gear than what I had on… that’s a lot, that’s like 120 pounds of gear,” said Anthony Miller, Stratmoor Hills Fire Protection District.
Those who participate in the 9/11 memorial climb and wear the extra gear say that, while it’s a difficult way up, the honor to the heroes who never came home makes it all worth it.
“It takes a lot of motivation, it takes a lot of heart to put yourself through this, to go and do it, and everybody who did it that day showed that same courage and drive to try and help,” said Luebbers.
Watch the full story in the video player above.
