Mom In Peril
When he got the call, he expected to find a bunch of teenagers breaking the park rules.
But when he saw the mother-of-two dangling from the monument, he knew he had to do something fast to get her to safety. How on Earth did she get there? And how was he going to get to her in time?
Early Start
Mount Rushmore park ranger Glenn Willis was about to take a sip of his morning cup of coffee at the visitor’s center, preparing himself for his shift as he usually did.
There wasn't usually anything urgent to deal with at that time of the morning, so Willis liked to ease himself into things. But on July 12, he didn’t even get a chance to finish that first sip.
Call To Action
“Willis!” the chief bellowed from across the foyer. The life of a park ranger at the popular national monument was not typically action-packed, so a panicked call to action wasn’t something Willis was expecting.
“You need to get to the monument!” the chief continued. “It sounds like some kids have trespassed off the guide path.” Willis respected the chief and the responsibility of his role, so he set his coffee down and headed straight for the mountain.
High Risk
When he got to the mountain, Willis met a colleague who’d already arrived on the scene. He looked around, but couldn’t see any emergencies in progress.
“What’s going on?” Willis asked his fellow park ranger. “I heard some kids were trespassing or something.” Willis’ colleague just stared at him, and pointed up to the peak of the mountain.
Cliffhanger
Just 15 feet from the top of the famous landmark, a woman was hanging from the sculpture. Like his colleague, Willis was at a loss for words.
But he knew he had to do something. Willis raced to the bottom of the granite monument - known as the “chins” - to get a better look at the situation.
Wilful Endangerment
When Wilis got there, the crisis became a lot clearer. The woman was at the top between George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, whose faces are about 60 feet tall. She didn’t appear to be in trouble, in fact, she seemed to have climbed up there all by herself.
But looking closer, he noticed something about the woman that really made him sweat. He needed to get her down as soon as possible.
No Rope
The woman had no climbing gear whatsoever. She was scaling the sheer mountain face alone and didn’t even have a rope. One false move and she would slip to her certain doom.
“Hello there!” Willis shouted. “Can you come down?” The 30-year-old woman turned to look at the park ranger, but she just kept on climbing.
Law Breaker
Realizing the free-climbing woman had no intention of obeying the direct order, Willis climbed up a little further so there could be no mistaking his words. “Ma’am, you are trespassing. You need to get down here right now!” he commanded
“Do you want me to come down fast or slow?” replied Alexandria Incontro, facetiously. The rangers would clearly need to take this to the next level.
Under Arrest
Incontro had planned a route to ascend the mountain with flagrant disregard for the signs warning against trespassing or climbing the sculpture. The Omaha native was on vacation in South Dakota with her two children - aged seven and three - who were waiting for her at the base.
Using a megaphone, Willis informed Incontro that she was under arrest. But he had no idea what she was going to do next.
Down To Earth
Willis managed to get Incontro to safely descend the monument, where she was promptly handcuffed by officers waiting at the base.
Paramedics tended to minor wounds and scrapes from the climb - but no serious injuries - before she was taken to Pennington County Jail. But that wasn’t the end of the disobedient climber’s punishments.
Steep Fine
Incontro appeared in Rapid City federal court, where she pleaded guilty to climbing Mount Rushmore. She was forced to pay a $1,000 fine and a $30 processing fee.
But it seems she wasn’t particularly remorseful of her actions. In fact, she seemed to regret not making it to the top and escaping the law.
Alien Escape
“I could have made it,” said Incontro in a bizarre Facebook comment following the incident. “But there was just something in the ranger’s voice. In my ignorance of the mountain, I thought I was either gonna meet SWAT or aliens at the top. But I could have gotten away.”
Did Alexandra get off easy? Or was this just a once in a lifetime opportunity that a daredevil like her couldn’t pass up?