Stair Hopper

The Stair Hopper is an obstacle, first introduced as the ninth obstacle on American Ninja Warrior 8 during Philadelphia finals. On this obstacle, competitors must:
 * Place a 4-foot free-moving bar on a set of rails (3.5 feet apart.
 * Move the bar down four drops with alternate heights of 5 or 10 inches.
 * This includes a small gap to clear when attempting the second and fourth drops.
 * After that, they must jump the pipe up four times with also alternate heights of either 5 and 12 inches, to keep on the tracks.
 * Similar to going down the drops, there are two gaps (over the first and third jump), in which competitors must avoid falling through.
 * The gaps make jumping the bar much harder, because they must jump it from a greater distance and have no rail to help keep the bar in place.
 * After completing the jumps, they must slide the bar along a slightly longer set of rails and drop to a landing platform.

In its debut, the obstacle proved to be incredibly difficult, taking out many top competitors: Ryan Stratis, Jamie Rahn, Mike Bernardo, Jon Alexis Jr., Jesse Labreck, Najee Richardson, Michael Torres, and most notably, Geoff Britten. Out of the 10 competitors who reached this obstacle, only two competitors could complete it: Joe Moravsky and Chris Wilczewski. Ultimately, both of them gassed out at the final obstacle (the Invisible Ladder), making Philadelphia finals on that season the first time in American Ninja Warrior history that no competitor could complete the city finals course.

American Ninja Warrior 9
The Stair Hopper returned as the ninth obstacle on American Ninja Warrior 9 during Los Angeles finals, which had the same specification from the previous season.

Once again, 10 competitors reached this obstacle. However, unlike during Philadelphia finals on the previous season, 6 competitors could complete it. On the contrary, Kevin Bull, Robin Pietschmann, Jackson Meyer, and Brian Wilczewski fell on this obstacle.

American Ninja Warrior 10
On American Ninja Warrior 10, the Stair Hopper appeared as the ninth obstacle during Miami finals, and the obstacle remained unchanged from the past two American Ninja Warrior seasons.

This time, only 5 competitors attempted the obstacle. This was due to the brutality of the previous obstacles, especially the Cannonball Drop and Crazy Clocks. Only 3 completed the obstacle: Ryan Stratis (who failed on this obstacle during American Ninja Warrior 8's Philadelphia finals), Brett Sims, and Kenny Niemitalo. On the flipside, the Stair Hopper shockingly wiped out Drew Drechsel and Jessie Graff. In fact, both of them fell at the exact same spot (at the third step).

Just like during Los Angeles finals on American Ninja Warrior 9, it had a 60% completion rate. In fact, the number of clears and attempts during Miami finals on American Ninja Warrior 10 were exactly half of the numbers of clears and attempts on the obstacle during Los Angeles finals.

Australian Ninja Warrior
On Australian Ninja Warrior 5, the Stair Hopper appeared as the seventh obstacle in Stage One. However, compared to the one used on American Ninja Warrior:
 * The obstacle was named as the Salmon Ladder to Stair Hopper.
 * The obstacle featured a shorter track, with only five descending steps.
 * The obstacle was preceded by the Salmon Ladder and combined as one obstacle.

Competitors' Success Rate

 * All results based on the NBC broadcast and external information found

Trivia

 * This obstacle is a combination of the Pipe Slider and Bar Hop.
 * The function of this obstacle is somewhat similar to the Pipe Slider from American Ninja Warrior 1. However, unlike the Pipe Slider (where the pipe was already onto the track), competitors must put the bar onto the track first before attempting the obstacle.
 * The original idea for this obstacle involved competitors jumping the bar upwards, then downwards. However, the producers wanted to make this obstacle more harder, so they flipped the design upside down.
 * This was the first obstacle that Geoff Britten failed since the Jumping Spider in Stage One on American Ninja Warrior 6.
 * Both Wilczeski brothers (Chris Wilczewski and Brian Wilczewski) attempted the Stair Hopper- Chris attempted the obstacle during American Ninja Warrior 8's Philadelphia finals, and Brian attempted it during American Ninja Warrior 9's Los Angeles finals. While Chris became one of the only two competitors who could complete it during Philadelphia finals, his younger brother Brian became one of four competitors who failed to complete it during Los Angeles finals.