Shafiq Noorani, of Aurora, identified as climber killed in fall New Year’s Eve in Clear Creek County.
Courtesy Husein Noorani
Shafiq Noorani, an experienced climber from Aurora killed after falling near Citadel Peak above the Eisenhower Tunnel on New Year’s Eve, was remembered by his family as a kind philanthropist who tried to make life better for people across the world.
“My brother Shafiq, whose name translates to friend, compassionate, kind, and gentle-hearted, truly embodied those qualities in how he loved, listened, and moved through the world.” Husein Noorani said.
Husein Noorani said he’d read the local article online from his home in Pennsylvania and wanted to explain more about what his brother’s life meant and how lives around-the-world are forever impacted by his sibling’s 52-years of life. He contacted the Clear Creek Courant to identify his brother and offer details about his brother’s life.
The original 911 call came in at approximately 2 p.m. on Dec. 31 and alerted the Alpine Rescue Team to a report of a fallen climber near Citadel Peak.
This picture was captured from inside the Blackhawk rescue helicopter as volunteer rescue techs, hoist operators and pilots searched for the stranded hiker, who was signaling them with her headlamp.
Colorado Hoist Rescue Team members and partner first responders come together in the rescue attempt at 13,000 feet on the north-east Citadel in Clear Creek County, Dec. 31.
File
The rescue call came from a stranded female hiker clinging to a rock face at 13,000 feet who said she watched her climbing partner fall several hundred feet to his death into the basin below the ridge, according to incident reports.
The caller, reportedly, told dispatchers that she and her climbing partner (Noorani) were ascending a technical climbing route on the Citadel when her partner fell.
Noorani’s climbing partner, the woman who called emergency responders, has not been identified.
Steve Wilson, public information officer with the volunteer Alpine Rescue Team, said there is much to still investigate.
“The two did seem to be experienced and well-equipped climbers and were not on an unreasonable route for their experience and equipment,” Wilson stated. “The exact nature of the fall is not known, and it is unlikely that it will ever be known definitively.”
According to Clear Creek County Coroner Chris Hegmann, Noorani was killed by ‘blunt-force-trauma,’ and the investigation is ongoing.
Traveling not to see, but to serve
According to his brother, Noorani was born in 1973 on the mainland Dar ES Salaam Tanzania and brought to America by his parents, arriving in Chicago in 1978 when he was five-years-old.
He grew up camping, fishing and as a member of the Boy Scouts before Noorani said his brother started to travel.
“Shafiq traveled around the whole world, not simply to see it, but to serve it,” Noorani said. “He made friends easily and stayed in touch. He supported a school in Nepal, bought new desks for a school in Moshi, Tanzania (and had local carpenters make them), sponsored students internationally, and donated to countless organizations.”
One of those friends Noorani made during his world travels was Don Worsham; they would remain good friends, Worsham said, for 35-years until his recent death.
“We were more than climbing partners, we were world travelers who did philanthropic things throughout the world, especially in Chile, Argentina, and Nepal,” Worsham told the Courant.
Shafiq Noorani, of Aurora, the climber who was killed in a fall Dec. 31 in Clear Creek County.
Courtesy family members
Worsham said Noorani eventually became a physician’s assistant in the Denver area, where he could continue to care for those children close to his heart.
“He had an absolutely massive heart, especially for others who came to this country like he did – underprivileged. He certainly was when he was young,” Worsham said. “He was doing everything possible to make sure they had what they needed.”
Ripples
Worsham and Noorani both described their friend and brother as a person whose true impact on this world doesn’t end with his death.
“He used to liken it to a stone being cast into the waters and all these people that we helped would be all these ripples that came from him being cast into the waters,” Worsham said.
Noorani agreed with Worsam’s sentiment almost verbatim.
“Shafiq was selfless and changed many lives for the better. To know him was to feel understood, and to love him was effortless,” Noorani said. “May we feel his presence in the ripples of streams and in the winds of the mountains he loved so dearly.”