General Finishes Gel Stains are highly-rated by users. You might give it a try if you can match the color of other parts of the stairs.

@wdccruise Thanks! Do you know what users say about how long one coat takes to dry?

I'd suggest you use look at the photo of the can on the Amazon website which shows the product instructions and use the Amazon review's search feature to search for word such as "dry" or "drying".

Are you still using the same can of gel stain? If so, it might be too old to use anymore, and it may never dry, if it has already been that long. Gel stain doesnt soak into the wood, like regular stain does, so it will never last like regular stain, so you are probably lucky to get it to last a year. Old Masters says, their gel stain takes about 6-12 hours to dry, and once it is completely dry, you should put a coat of clear finish over the top of it.