Manitou Incline world-record holder calls claims of harassment ‘bogus,’ protection order dismissed

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The Manitou Incline woman world record holder, accused of verbally and physically harassing other athletes, claimed in court the allegations against her are “lies.”

In an El Paso County court Friday, a judge dismissed a restraining order against the world record holder, Chasidey Geissler.

Noelia Sanchez, an incline athlete, filed the restraining order in March, claiming Geissler verbally and physically harassed her multiple times. In February, Sanchez alleged Geissler and her husband bumped into her while on the Incline and yelled at her.

About three weeks later, Sanchez claimed in court documents Geissler yelled in her face saying she wants to “break my [explicit] neck” and she should watch her back. During the same hike, near the top of the Incline, Sanchez said Geissler came from out of the bushes and bumped her in the back.

Geissler told 13 Investigates after the court hearing Friday that the accusations against her are “bogus” and “lies.”

“Noelia Sanchez was just the latest petty female trying to have status in the group, and her deceit coincided nicely with the finish of my record-breaking year,” Geissler said.

Geissler holds multiple records on the Manitou Incline, including the fastest time to complete the 500 (129 days) and 1,000 laps (311 days), doing both in the last year. In March, she also completed the most laps of the Incline in 365 days.

The judge said she found both sides credible, that some of the verbal and physical assault did occur and there is a safety concern. However, she said there wasn’t enough evidence that the acts by Geissler would continue, so she dismissed the protection order.

“We just hope that Mr. Geissler got the message that Ms. Sanchez wants her to leave her alone,” said Jeremy Loew, Sanchez’s attorney. “These acts that the judge found occurred were dangerous. Ms. Sanchez wants no communication with her.”

13 Investigates asked Geissler if she will have any future interaction with Sanchez and she said, “Not at all.” She also denied ever verbally or physically harassing Sanchez.

Instead, Geissler said Sanchez abused the legal system when this could have been resolved through adult conversations.

“To Noelia and her family, who chose to blatantly lie about the situation and ignore the numerous times I showed her kindness, shame on them for misusing our legal system,” Geissler said.

The court proceedings Friday show a divide within the professional Incline hiking community, with people on both sides taking to the witness stand to defend the hikers.

The President of the Incline Club, Greg Cummings, said the group created a code of conduct form earlier this year that members must sign. In court, he said the form was created 85% because of Geissler and the numerous complaints from multiple athletes about alleged harassment.

Other witnesses however claimed Geissler was kind and never aggressive to other hikers.

“There is a group of people who are associated with the clubs on the Manitou Incline who set out to do a string of malicious and hateful things to my family just because I had the audacity to break a record,” Geissler said.

Geissler said Mar. 31 was the last time she hiked the Incline and claims she is moving on to “other adventures.”

Sanchez said she wants to move on with her life and just be left alone.

“We made it all the way here to send a message,” Sanchez said. “I was strong enough to stand up for myself and not allow anyone to mess with me.”

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