Tourists In Awe At Wild Incident On Mt. Rushmore

Nov 11, 2021 by apost team

The historical landmark, Mount Rushmore, is a major tourist attraction in Black Hills, South Dakota. The mountainside monument shows the faces of American presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. The memorial is massive, and there are many areas not open to the public. However, there have been multiple instances of trespassers attempting to climb the giant sculpture.

No one got as close to climbing up the faces as Alexandria Incontro from Omaha, Nebraska, who was visiting the monument in July 2019 with her family. While on a tour, Incontro slipped away and climbed a security fence to reach an area that was off-limits. She began to climb barefoot and without the proper climbing gear, like a harness, and did not stop after officials told her to come down.

Other tourists were shocked and panicked when they saw Incontro hanging on to the cliff face without any shoes or safety equipment. It was an incredibly dangerous stunt that frightened those who were there that day to witness it. Eventually, officials climbed up to meet Incontro and convinced her to return. She was immediately seen by paramedics that reported she had minor scrapes and bruises but was ultimately uninjured. 

Incontro was then taken to Pennington County Jail to await her bail hearing. She later pleaded guilty to climbing the monument and received a fine of $1000. Incontro is a mother of two and was visiting the memorial that day with around a dozen family members. Keep reading to learn more about this remarkable incident. 

Due to the bizarre nature of choosing to climb a dangerous monument while barefoot, officials inquired into the mental health of Incontro and found her of sound mind. “Ms. Incontro seemed like a nice person who was ‘having a day’ as it were,” said her lawyer, Thomas Harmon, to The Washington Post.

According to a Park Service spokesperson that spoke with The Washington Post, at the memorial there are “clearly marked closed areas to provide for the safety of the public and to protect this national icon. Anyone entering a closed area is subject to arrest.” For this reason, Incontro was taken into Pennington County Jail immediately after her medical evaluation. 

As reported by the police, a ranger at the scene told Incontro to come down, and instead, she said something along the lines of, “Do you want me to come down fast or slow?” She never stopped climbing, said the ranger.

Incontro made it dangerously close to the top, despite climbing without any shoes. “From my perspective, she appeared to be on a vertical rock face approximately 15 feet from the top of the sculpture,” an officer reported.

There have been many attempts to climb the monument in the past. In 2009, Greenpeace activists climbed the memorial from the backside and then hung a banner near Lincoln’s face that demanded President Barack Obama take action against global warming. 

In 2018, Don Hart, a chief ranger at Mount Rushmore, said:

“We have lots of folks make it up the talus slope. They are just being drawn up there, I guess you could say.”

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What would be your reaction to seeing this at Mount Rushmore? Would you be shocked or panicked? Let us know what you think, and feel free to pass this along to your friends and family.