An Afghan woman, on top of the (tallest) mountain

At the summit of Afghanistan’s tallest mountain, the Afghan woman climber can hardly keep hold of her country’s flag in the fierce wind – much less control her unbridled joy at her monumental achievement.

But Hanifa Yousoufi’s smile glows as the last rays of sunset illuminate, far below, a horizon of snow-capped mountains and clouds, as evident in an online video. Only two other Afghans, both men, can lay claim to the same achievement. But even as Ms. Yousoufi entered the alpine record books on Aug. 10 as the first Afghan woman to summit Mt. Noshaq, which towers at 24,580 feet in the country's northeast, she joined the equally rarefied ranks of Afghan women role models trying to change a conservative society known more for restricting women’s rights and for honor killings