Some consider love a mountain worth climbing.
For Donald Hoehn, Minersville, that climb includes the steep steel stairs on Pottsville's 10th Street.
His girlfriend of four months, Deb Miller, lives on Race Street. He said the steps are the easiest way up there.
"I come over here every day now. I usually walk up once or twice a day," said Hoehn, 55.
On the afternoon of Feb. 8, as a light snow covered the railing, he walked the steps twice. On the second trip, he was carrying two bags of laundry.
"She wanted some laundry done. And I wanted some laundry done so I figured I do it all at the same time," Hoehn said.
The long flight of 99 steps, a local landmark built in the 18th century, is located near the Market Street Deli at 1002 W. Market St. They're important to the neighborhood, according to Hoehn, Rich Azbell, 65, who lives at the top of the steps at 201 N. Ninth St. and Daniel E. Kelly, the city superintendent of streets.
"I'll walk these steps before I'll walk up Race Street. I'll walk these steps before I'll walk up a hill. I'll get out of breath a lot quicker if I walk up Race Street," Hoehn said.
Usually in December, Kelly brings out chains to block the entrances to the steps. But since Mother Nature's kept the ice off of them this winter, the city has decided to keep them open.
"People are still using them. It's a shortcut for people. But if the weather gets too bad, we'll close it. It will be too dangerous for people to walk. And it becomes hard for us to maintain, especially if there's ice because that area's in the shade. You're wasting your time putting salt on it because if the salt doesn't hit it, it's not going to melt," Kelly said.
It's one of four sets of public steps the city owns, according to Kelly and city Administrator Thomas A. Palamar.
The 10th Street steps are made of concrete landings, steel rails and steel decks. And it's made up of three flights, one with 36 steps, one with 37 and one with 23, for a total of 99, Kelly said.
Azbell said in the 1980s the city improved the steps and added concrete walls at the top. He said in summer 2011, he painted the metal bannister near the top fire-engine red.
The other sets of city-owned steps in Pottsville are:
-The Adams Street steps, a 49-step concrete incline that extends from Jackson Street up to Edwards Avenue.
-South Centre Street steps, "the Old Iron Steps, " two flights with 50 steps, stretching from South Centre Street to South Second Street.
-The Seventh Street steps, another iron set that runs from Mine Street to Race Street.
The city doesn't have to repair them very often, Kelly said.
"We inspect them at least twice a year," he said.
It's hard to predict what will happen to the steps in the future because maintaining them can be costly. But the city has no plans to remove them, Palamar said Thursday.
The steps are covered under the city's blanket insurance policy, which costs approximately $160,000 per year, Palamar said.
The exact age of the steps are unknown, according to Kelly and Palamar. There is no documentation on file at the Historical Society of Schuylkill County, Dr. Peter Yasenchak, the society's executive director, said Thursday.