Like many bikers who could not race during the pandemic, Farid Noori planned a major mountain climb to challenge himself. A 2019 Middlebury College grad and native of Afghanistan, Noori wanted to do something other than scale the equivalent of Mount Everest on his bike, so he decided to ride up the Appalachian Gap on Route 17, and to do it 21 times in a row. That would equal the height of Afghanistan’s tallest mountain, Mt. Naw Shakh, which is 24,580 feet tall. And he would raise money through the ride to benefit the Sayed Ul Shuhada girls’ high school, which was bombed by the Taliban. 

Through more than 12 grueling hours of uphill biking and several hours of cold rain, Noori on Tuesday biked. He was joined for part of the ride by friends and fellow Middlebury grads Ted King (Class of 2005 in green shirt below) and Warren Galloway (Class of 2021, blue shirt). Another friend, Ian Lynch, ran the last part of the climb alongside Noori. On his Instragam page, Noori wrote after the ride, “It hurt as hell but that’s what climbing to the highest point of your country should feel like.”

To donate to Noori’s cause, click here.