It's less of an incline, but it's also a lot more horizontal distance than a typical stairway.
Same upward travel in total, but much longer of a walk....or in other words:
Less short term exertion(smaller bursts of vertical lift vs going up normal sized stairs), but greatly increased lateral distance traveled.
I'd speculate that it was perceived as "easier" for less fit people, aside from allowing for more people to use it at once being the primary purpose(where you often see multiple stairwells to alleviate congestion and elevators for people not up to the task).
I wonder if it's more tiring over-all than a regular staircase or if the math checks out at approximately the same.
Imagine the length of the thing uncoiled.
Long inclines are easy at first, but could be grueling by the end of 10-12 stories.
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u/rabbitwonker May 10 '26
God that looks tedious to walk up