A longtime New York state forest ranger and transgender advocate died Thursday night after falling more than 1,000 feet while attempting to scale a steep cliff in Alaska, officials said.
Robi Mekas, 52, of Keene Valley, and her climbing partner fell while ice climbing a particularly dangerous section of Mount Johnson known as the “escalator” in Denali National Park. According to the National Park Service.
Mekas, a transgender woman, died in the fall. Her climbing partner, a 30-year-old woman from California, survived with “severe trauma.”
Another mountaineer witnessed the tragic fall and called for help around 10:45 p.m., but it took until 7 a.m. the next morning for the survivors to be airlifted to hospital.
Mekas’ body was not recovered until Saturday morning due to worsening weather the night before.
The outdoor enthusiast worked as a forest ranger for the Department of Environmental Protection’s Adirondack region for 25 years, starting at age 27 in 1999, the agency said.
“I stand with the Department of Environmental Protection family in mourning the sudden and tragic death of Forest Conservation Officer Robi Mekas,” DEC Interim Director Sean Mahar said in a statement Saturday.
Mahar said Mekas “exemplifies the high professional excellence of a forest ranger,” highlighting her rescue operations, complex search operations and deployments on out-of-state wildfire response missions.
The interim chair also praised Mekas’ efforts to “advance diversity, inclusion, and LGBTQ belonging throughout the agency.”
Mekas was also a leader in the Adirondack gay community. NCPR reported.
She told the magazine in 2021 that she struggled to accept her gender identity as a teenager. Ultimately she waited until she was in her 40s to make her transition. She said: “I was scared and scared and didn’t know how to live my life.”
That difficult time was when she discovered her love for rock and ice climbing, opening her up to a community that didn’t often include gay people and giving her the opportunity to become a leader.
“There are many reasons why I didn’t come out until I was 44, but one of them was that I didn’t think I could do it because I didn’t see anyone else still doing what I wanted to do. Because there wasn’t,” Mekas said in 2021. I didn’t see a single transclimber. ”
According to her social media channels, Mekas has traveled to Alaska many times over the years to explore.
She even managed to climb the “escalator” last year.
It’s unclear what went wrong on her last climb, but park officials have warned that the path to the 8,400-foot summit of Mount Johnson is the most dangerous.
“The approximately 5,000-foot route requires navigating a steep mix of rock, ice, and snow,” the National Park Service said.
Mr. Mekas is survived by his daughter and ex-wife, who live in the Keene Valley community.
Denali National Park and Preserve is approximately 390 miles north of Anchorage.
