After the fatal fall in Alaska, we remember the committed mountaineer and forester Robbi Mecus

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New York State mountaineer and forester Robbi Mecus, 52, died in a fall on Mt. Johnson in Alaska.

According to a statement from Denali National Park, around 10:45 p.m. on April 25, a separate climbing group plunged a two-person team from 1,000 feet The escalator (III 5.5 AI 3; 4,400 feet) on the southeast face of the mountain. This group was able to descend to the fallen climbers, where they confirmed that one of the two – now identified as Mecus – had died. The second climber, Melissa Orzechowski, survived with serious injuries. Orzechowski was cared for by the task force, which dug a snow cave and provided basic first aid until a helicopter arrived for evacuation the next morning.

Robbi Mecus was a fixture in the Adirondacks, where she worked as a forest ranger for 25 years. In addition to being a respected and prolific rescuer of stranded hikers and climbers, described by her colleagues as one of the state’s top rangers, she was also a well-known advocate for greater inclusion in the outdoors.

“She was an incredible climber,” says Katie Ives, the former editor of alpinist Magazine. Ives was editor of Mecus magazine and also climbed with her several times in the Adirondacks and the Gunks. “She was also very encouraging – she took people of all levels climbing, she was very encouraging of other women, and she was all about making people feel comfortable in vertical, wild places.”

Mecus came out as transgender at the age of 44. A few years later, she described her reception as a climber who was now also an out trans woman in a 2019 year alpinist Story called “Perspective.”

“Before transitioning, I didn’t think I would be able to continue climbing if I got out,” she wrote. “The onslaught of seemingly harmless sexual jokes and vague references to women’s weakness convinced me that I was going to be ridiculed. Everyone says we shouldn’t care what others think of us. Still, I’ve found it difficult to let go of a lifetime of shame and guilt about being transgender and something our society so casually makes fun of. I felt like my confidence would shatter the moment I revealed the truth about myself – and confidence was the key quality I needed to soar with joy and happiness. However, recently a friend took a photo of me leading a route. For the first time, I saw nothing more than what the picture showed: a woman moving across the rock, lost in the moment and at peace with herself.”

Ives, the editor of this story, recalls that Mecus was one of her favorite authors to work with. “She brought this incredible sense of integrity to everything she did,” Ives says. “That attention to detail, that desire to create something that is as powerful and meaningful and helpful as possible.”

Transsexual climber and climbing photographer Nikki Smith struck up a friendship with Mecus after Smith publicly came out in 2018. “She was the first transgender woman I ever got to climb with,” Smith says. “Just having someone who had the same experiences as me, a little earlier than me – I was able to ask questions that I couldn’t get answers to from anyone else: What was their life like? How did hormones and changes affect her body and what did that mean for her climbing?”

Mecus was determined to reduce the isolation of so many queer and trans climbers. “There are a lot of reasons why I didn’t come out until I was 44,” she told NPR in 2021, “but one of them was that I didn’t see anyone doing the things that I still wanted to do, and I have not done. I don’t think I could manage them… I haven’t seen any queer rangers. I didn’t see any trans climbers.”

In addition to reaching out to individuals like Smith, Mecus also worked to build larger communities. Along with Orzechowski and fellow climber Nol Huther, Mecus co-founded the Adirondack Queer Ice Fest, a free annual festival launched in 2022 that aims to create space for queer and trans people to explore and enjoy ice climbing. Their third event last February attracted more than 100 participants.

Mecus also repeatedly pulled lost hikers out of the danger zone. She was seen in one just two weeks before her death in Alaska New York Times Story about a grueling, night-time winter rescue mission that ended when she found the man she was looking for. He was hypothermic and frozen, but alive.

Most of the time she told that Just“It’s hard to say for sure that I saved someone’s life today. “It’s hard to say if that person wouldn’t have gotten out on their own.” But this time she knew, “That person wouldn’t have done it.”

Separate fundraising efforts have been launched to support the medical costs and recovery of the family of Robbi Mecus and Melissa Orzechowski.