Update: Surrounded by fans, Mandy Horvath finished the Manitou Incline in two hours and 44 minutes Tuesday — what she said in a Facebook post was three hours better than her first ascent. She wrote: "I directly attribute this achievement to my sobriety, the mass support I've received and the inspiration I find in these people around me today. ... I'm thankful to be alive today."
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Mandy Horvath is making a Manitou Incline comeback.
A year after the double-amputee made international headlines for ascending the grueling stretch of railroad ties, she planned on Tuesday to again scoot her way to the top. She wrote on Facebook her desire to raise awareness of veterans charities.
It would be her third time, following her June 2018 climb on her way up Pikes Peak beside a guide. They reached the summit after three days.
And then came Horvath’s fall from grace. Nine days after the mountaintop, she was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and again in August — her third drunk driving arrest on the year. In a previous interview with The Gazette, she said she struggled with depression.
But Horvath has maintained supporters, gaining their encouragement on Facebook with every post about her sober path. She recently posted a Maya Angelou quote: “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”
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