Noel helps Saray join record books with Everest expedition

Noel helps Saray join record books with Everest expedition

3 July 2019

DROMARA adventurer Noel Hanna has been stopped in his intrepid tracks — by an international incident between Iran and the US.

He had planned to scale the highest volcano in Asia this month but the Iranian air strike against an US drone last month meant that diplomatic relations would be volatile in the coming weeks and months.

The 52 year-old had planned to led a team of climbers up Mount Damavand in Iran, which stands at 5,609m. 

“After the Iran drone strike and the US threatening to retaliate we were advised not even to think about it,” said Noel.

Noel spoke to the Recorder about his latest venture up Mount Everest when he led the first successful ascent of the world’s highest mountain by a black woman.

He and South African businesswoman Saray Khumalo made global headlines when they reached the top of the 8,848-metre high summit on May 16.

It was Ms Khumalo’s fourth attempt and Noel’s ninth successful ascent of Everest.

Noel explained that he was asked to take Saray at the last moment when she became aware that another black African woman was also planning to climb Everest.

“Several months before the expedition started she came to me about doing Everest in 2020. I knew she had been on the mountain three times before. “But then a week before we left, there were reports that another black woman — from Malawi, I think — was going to Everest and as Saray wanted to be the first African black woman, she asked me to take her on the May expedition.”

However, the achievement was marred by the loss of fellow Irish climber, Seamus Lawless, who fell to his death in a freak incident on the team’s descent.

Mr Lawless from Bray, Co Wicklow, was the first team member that Noel had lost on any expedition. 

Noel, Saray, Seamus and his climbing partner, Jenny Copeland, all reached the summit at 8.30am, staying barely 15 minutes before making their descent.

“To this day we don’t know what happened to Seamus and why it happened,” said Noel.

“We all had a near perfect climb but things started off badly on this expedition when we had just arrived in Nepal when a plane crashed and we had to help out.

“I hadn’t climbed with Seamus and Jenny before but I knew them from training with them. They had approached me about two years earlier to ask me to lead them up Everest in 2019.

“For me it’s a matter of getting every individual up and back down again. We still had a dangerous part to get through the following day to camp two and then through the ice fault to base camp.

“Seamus pushed on ahead with the lead sherpa while I stayed behind with the two women climbers as they were going slower and had problems with their eye masks. We got into base camp about an hour later. Then the sherpa who told me that Seamus had fallen near camp four.”

Noel plans to climb Mount Manaslu in the Himalayas with his wife Lyn without oxygen in September. 

If successful, he believes they could become the first Irish couple to climb the eighth highest mountain in the world without oxygen.