Irish mountaineer who died in Himalayas once served as Bill Clinton's bodyguard

Climber Noel Hanna. Picture: noelhanna.com

The Irish mountaineer who died in the Himalayas was a former RUC close protection officer who once served as one of Bill Clinton’s bodyguards.

Noel Hanna, who was a highly experienced endurance athlete who had climbed Mount Everest 10 times, died on his way back down from Mount Annapurna in west Nepal.

The 56-year-old had reached the top of the 8,091m peak, which is one of the highest and most treacherous mountains in the world.

The bodyguard and fitness instructor was on his way down on Monday night when he died.

Climbers regard scaling Annapurna as a daunting challenge because of the frequent risk of avalanches. Before last season, only 369 people had reached the summit of Annapurna, while 72 had died climbing it.

According to the Kathmandu Post, his body was found lying at Camp IV, about 1,000m from the summit in an area prone to avalanches.

Two other climbers who went missing in the same area, one at Camp IV and the other some distance below at Camp III, have since been found alive.

Seven Summits Treks chairman Mingma Sherpa said Noel “breathed his last in Camp IV”.

He told news agency AFP: "His body has been brought down and flown to Kathmandu."

Kerry-based mountaineer, and friend, Pat Falvey told RTÉ: “I got a text in from my people in Kathmandu which said Noel had passed away.

"His love and passion was about climbing big mountains.

"As a friend of mine once quoted, it was his cathedral, it was where he went to pray."

Bonita Norris, the youngest person to reach both the top of Everest and the North Pole, described him as “Ireland’s greatest high altitude climber”.

'Best of the best'

“Noel was the best of the best," she said.

“He taught me so much, which I will always take with me to the hills.

“He was patient, funny, and totally obsessed with his wife Lynne and their dogs.”

Noel told an interviewer in one of his many interviews that he was well aware of the risks he knew he was taking.

“You know when you go away there is a chance you’re not coming back but that’s just the way we live and if you were to think about that every time you went out the door, then there’s no point really living life,” he said.

In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph’s Sunday Life magazine, he said: "The only thing we are sure of is dying.

“Ever since I was young, I’ve always felt that since the day you are born, there’s a nick in the calendar when you are going to die.

“And should you live life to the extreme, or should you not go out the door, lightning will strike the house and you will get killed in the house, and that’s been my motto for living life to the full.”

He served as a police officer in the North for 15 years until 2002.

During one of Mr Clinton’s presidential visits to the North in the 1990s, he was assigned as one of his close protection officers.

Noel is survived by wife Lynne, 60, a former CEO of the Paris-based cosmetics giant Clarins.

Although they did not have children, the couple shared a passion for their three German Shepherd dogs Babu, Ruskie, and Buddha.