Cardiac Hill

Seemingly never-ending climb links upper to lower campus

Friday, July 12, 2019

For every step a student takes towards their Trinity degree, none exacts the physical toll of the steps up Cardiac Hill.

Climbing this bank of 46 steps, built to connect lower campus to the Coates Esplanade and upper campus, is a rite of passage for every Trinity student.

We could describe the passage to you, but Trinity students and faculty say it best:

“I am bombarded by subtle hints and tell-tale innuendos that categorize me as… mid-life. The ‘subtleties’ include ...the heavy breathing I engage in when I climb Cardiac Hill from the Refectory to my office at what I once considered a leisurely pace.” - Longtime administrator and English professor, Coleen Grissom, then age 28, in the September 1978 Trinitonian.

“As first-years and alumni of the first-year quad know well, Cardiac Hill was not something to be messed with. With an incline of almost 45 degrees, the long trudge to upper campus wasn't a fun one.” - Katy Kaestner ’16, 2013 Trinity Mirage

“I would replace Cardiac Hill with escalators.” - Drew Metzger ’13, when asked in the October 2009 Trinitonian what he would do if appointed as a student senator.

Cardiac Hill was a natural consequence of Trinity’s ambitious, original plans for a skyline campus built into an old rock quarry, as the irregular shape of this property and the seventy-foot difference in slope between low and high points did not lend themselves to a traditional campus building design. Thus, architects and planners envisioned a campus with rock steps, informal terracing, retaining walls, pools, and winding walkways.

But while this landscape has provided a good-natured challenge for Trinity’s able-bodied community, the steps have been a much more serious obstacle for students, faculty and staff living with disabilities, injuries, or other physical realities. So, after the introduction of the Texas Accessibility Standards act in 1994, Trinity has worked to provide accessible alternatives to connecting upper and lower campus, including the eventual installation of elevators leading to Miller and Witt halls in summer 2012.