Local paper where Noel Hanna was regular visitor pays warm tribute to 'brave, resilient, humble and jovial' climber

By Graeme Cousins
Published 18th Apr 2023, 16:57 BST
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​Noel Hanna was a regular visitor into the offices of National World’s recently acquired title the Banbridge Chronicle.

​Journalist Francois Vincent has written a glowing tribute to the adventurer.

He said: “The Chronicle team was privileged to meet Noel on several occasions, and a striking feature about him is that while he was incredibly brave, resilient and accomplished in his chosen field, he came across as very relaxed, humble and jovial, and had come to accept that death could be a possible outcome when taking part in what is in effect an extreme sport."

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He added: "The Dromara climber clearly loved to make history, and he and his team of Sherpas were the first-ever to set foot on top of Mount Burke Khang in the Himalayas, back in 2017.

Noel Hanna was the first climber to reach the top of Mount Khang. He chose to rename it after his veteran alpinist friend Bill Burke, when he could have given his name to it. C2316516Noel Hanna was the first climber to reach the top of Mount Khang. He chose to rename it after his veteran alpinist friend Bill Burke, when he could have given his name to it. C2316516
Noel Hanna was the first climber to reach the top of Mount Khang. He chose to rename it after his veteran alpinist friend Bill Burke, when he could have given his name to it. C2316516

“Had the peak not been named after his veteran alpinist friend Bill Burke in 2014 – as a tribute to the oldest climber ever to climb Everest – the icy summit could well have been named after Noel. In choosing to have the summit named after a friend, rather than seeking glory for himself, Noel gave the true measure of the man that he was.

“Death was sadly part and parcel of Noel's extreme – if exhilarating – pursuit. And seeing fellow climbers die before his very eyes did not prove enough to stop the man in his quest for yet more peaks to conquer, for his was a quest for life lived at its most intense and freeing.”