Though Kakiko Ramos-Leon grew up in the temperate city of Autlán, Jalisco, Mexico, he now spends most of the year on snow and ice. A determined climber and skier, Ramos-Leon works a variety of mountain jobs in Alaska. In the winter, he ski patrols at Hilltop Ski Area in Anchorage and teaches courses for the Alaska Avalanche School. In the summer, he’s a climbing ranger for the National Park Service on Denali — the mountain that brought him north in the first place.
Ramos-Leon moved to Anchorage in 2010, but it was a climbing trip during college that first drew him to Alaska. After climbing Denali and spending ten additional days exploring the state, Ramos-Leon knew he wanted to live in Alaska.
“I was pretty much in love with Canada and Alaska,” he said. “It was the remoteness and the size of the mountains.”
Ramos-Leon’s interest in climbing developed in Mexico, where he would rock climb and mountaineer with the outdoor club at his college. After participating in the club for some years, climbing volcanoes and 14,000-foot mountains, he began leading student backpacking and climbing trips.
Despite this outdoor leadership experience, Ramos-Leon did not pursue a career in the outdoor industry until after his move to Alaska. In Mexico, he studied and worked as an engineer, and for his first few years in Alaska, he worked at the Mexican consulate in Anchorage. After leaving his office job, he realized he wanted to maximize his time outdoors.
“I started to like guiding and climbing around here, and I wanted to spend more time [outdoors],” he said. “I was just trying to do a lot of the activities that we all love to do here.”
Ramos-Leon began working as the office manager for the Alaska Avalanche School, a non-profit that he now teaches courses for. With summers off, he seized the opportunity to join volunteer patrols with the National Park Service.
“So I gained more experience in the Alaska Range and built up a specific resume towards Denali,” he said. Eventually, he picked up guiding contracts on the mountain, taking clients from base camp to the summit with Mountain Trip.
Thanks to his extensive experience on Denali’s West Buttress route, Ramos-Leon forged a strong pathway towards a climbing ranger position with the park service. But another major obstacle stood in his way: before working for the federal government, he had to successfully navigate U.S. immigration. After numerous challenges, he met an immigration attorney through the friends in the outdoor community. She agreed to take on his case.
“It was great that it happened through the outdoor community. She told me how to finish my case — before, I was trying to do everything myself,” he said.
Once a naturalized citizen, it wasn’t long before Ramos-Leon was offered his dream job. In 2022, he accepted the position as a climbing ranger on Denali — a full circle moment.
“That had been a goal for many years at that point,” he said. “I think it was around 2005 when I first got to visit national parks and interact with rangers,” he adds. “I thought wow, this is a great job.”
As the first Mexican immigrant to hold a climbing position in the park, Ramos-Leon says it’s currently becoming more difficult for immigrants and people of color to obtain such roles. To those with similar goals, he said.
“If you really want to do something, just try to do it. Look for mentors, or people who can give you good advice — and realistic advice.”
He said that people who didn’t grow up embedded in outdoor recreation might have a longer, more challenging path than those who did.
Ramos-Leon says that the outdoor industry treated diversity and inclusion as a trend in the years that followed George Floyd’s murder in 2020. While countless scholarships and affinity programs popped up for people of color during that time, many of them folded after only a few years. But he’d like to see continued emphasis on diversity in the outdoor industry, as ir helps people from all walks of life feel comfortable and welcome in the outdoors.
“I try to bring diverse groups of volunteers for my patrols,” he said. “When I got my first patrol, somebody opened the door for me. So now, I feel like I can do the same.”
