Incline Friends kicked off its membership campaign on Wednesday at Phantom Canyon Brewery.
About 140 signed on to support the nonprofit organization which is responsible for raising funds, organizing volunteer efforts and educating the public about the Incline.
All who joined received the new Incline Friends Tech-T.
You can get your shirt by joining Incline Friends online here ... http://inclinefriends.ning.com/page/donate.
All of the money raised will go toward matching grants, trailhead construction and trail-building projects.
The cities of Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs, along with the Forest Service and Cog Railway have worked for months to open the incline to the public. It remains illegal to climb, but may be open as early as this summer.
In the meantime, an intergovernmental agreement between Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs is being drafted and should be complete and approved this spring.
A licensing agreement that calls for the Cog Railway to provide 16 current parking spots for the project in exchange for an equal amount of parking along Winter St. and Ruxton Ave. is nearly finished and it will be signed upon approval of the IGA.
One of the final pieces to the puzzle will be the Forest Service use permit, which will open the upper third of the Incline to the public.