Mountaineer Noel Hanna Died After Annapurna Summit

Mountaineer Noel Hanna Died After Annapurna Summit

An accomplished alpinist from Northern Ireland died this week after summiting Annapurna, one of the deadliest mountains in the Himalayas. 

Noel Hanna’s wife, Lynne Hanna, said in a Facebook post that Noel “passed away at Camp 4 on Annapurna after a successful summit.” 

“He returned to the tent took some hot soup and fell asleep, never to awaken again,” she said. “No drama. No big story. It was his time to go and he died in the Himalayas. What better place for my Mountain Man. Sleep well, Noel.”

While the official cause of death is unclear, the New York Times reported that Noel Hanna completed the 26,545-foot climb without supplemental oxygen on Monday and died at the final camp before the summit. 

According to his website, Hanna began documenting his career in 1996 and he became the most accomplished climber from Northern Ireland and a Guinness world record holder. 

His accomplishments include scaling Mount Everest 10 times, climbing all seven summits, and setting the record for “Maxtrek,” which is the equivalent of going from sea level to the top of Mount Everest and back. He did it in less than 22 hours. 

Annapurna is situated in north central Nepal and is the 10th highest mountain in the world. The New York Times reported before 2022, only 369 people reached its summit while 72 died climbing. 

According to reports, on Monday, the day Hanna returned from his climb, an Indian climber fell into a crevasse on the lower reaches of Annapurna and has been missing since Monday. Two other Indian climbers had gotten caught up in bad weather and had to be rescued.