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= Hanifa Yousoufi = Hanifa Yousoufi became the first Afghan woman to summit her country's highest peak Mount Noshaq, at a height of 24,580 ft (7,492 meters). She achieved this feat on August 10, being a part of the month-long expedition organised by Ascend Athletics, a nonprofit organisation in Kabul that trains young Afghan women to climb mountsains. Noshaq is the second highest mountain in the Hindu Kush range, which runs along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Personal Life
Yousoufi was married at the age of 15 and is now divorced. Yousoufi joined the program a few years ago after she escaped her abusive husband.

About the Expedition
It was a $30,000 expedition, which was fully funded by Ascend Athletics and half of the amount was from a single donor. The team had to face a number of complications, including the fighting between Taliban forces and the Afghan army. Hanifa had been training with Ascend Athletics to attempt to climb Mt Noshaq since 2016. The expedition was led by Emilie Drinkwater, an American climber and skier, and one of the nine American women with the IFMGA guiding accreditation. Mount Noshaq was closed to climbers for about 30 years, alluding to the fact of decades of unrest during the Taliban rule in the country. It was again opened up in the year 2009. The Taliban shot down two Afghan National Army helicopters in the Zebak on the day before the group was due to fly from Kabul to the nearest airstrip to hike to the base camp. So, the group was flown to a safer village to continue with the expedition. Mount Noshaq, world's one of the most challenging summits, involves hazards and challenges like dangerous crevasses, fractured ice faces, loose rocks, sub-zero temperature and socio-political issues involving the Taliban; the expedition to the peak involves trekking through the war-torn regions, riddled with land-mines dating back to the Civil War era and where outsiders face the danger of being kidnapped or assaulted. The climb started at 9 a.m and while climbing, Hanifa faced altitude sickness in Camp Two and had to be brought down to Camp One. Next morning she went back to Camp Two after resting in Camp One. The other two girls could not continue the trek with Hanifa, due to altitude sickness and she had to continue the climb alone. She reached the summit at 7:10 p.m.