spdntrxi - I've never noticed the gates open but have always wanted to give it a shot. I just noticed that there is a segment for it on Strava, and it looks like 6 different cyclists did it last year (all on different dates). According to Strava it's 1 mile at 17% average grade, and ranges from 15% - 22% from the bottom to almost the summit. I'm going to keep my eye out for an open gate when I ride by from now on. Here's a link to the Strava segment:
http://app.strava.com/segments/5021066