Scattering Dogs Ashes on Everest
What an amazing story, a couple from Northern Ireland have broken a world record to be the first husband and wife team to scale Everest from both sides, and the reason for their second ascent was to scatter the ashes of their beloved pet dog Babu’s ashes.
After a gruelling six-week climb and a blizzard on the final leg, Noel and Lynne Hanna were finally able to scatter the ashes of Babu on the top of Everest. They actually made the summit on the exact same day as they had previously done in 2009 when they had approched the summit from the other side.
Noel told the Belfast Telegraph: “We had two objectives coming to Everest this time – to summit together and scatter Babu’s ashes – and we did both. Lynne added: “We had very high winds heading for the summit, but it was very emotional on top. We are both delighted to be safely back in Base Camp.”
The couple are seasoned climbers Lynne and Noel first attempted the north side of the mountain in 2005 but were forced to give up when Noel experienced retinal haemorrhaging at 7,000 metres. On their return home to Northern Ireland, they got Babu, a German Shepherd pup, to keep Noel company as he recovered. The pet’s name means child or son in Tibetan, and the dog became as close to them as a child.
Babu ran and trained in the mountains with Lynne and Noel but died aged 10 in December last year.
As the couple made their second attempt to climb the mountain from the north side this month, they carried Babu’s ashes with them. On Saturday, they said an emotional farewell to their beloved pet on the top of Everest.
Before leaving for the mountain, Noel told the Belfast Telegraph: “As we have no kids, we treated Babu like a child. We always said that when he died we would get him cremated and take some of his ashes to the highest mountain in Northern Ireland, which we did on St Patrick’s Day. “Babu had been to the summit of Slieve Donard with us about 50 times. We also want to take some of his ashes to the summit of Everest. “As far as I know, we will be the first husband and wife to have climbed both sides of Everest, but for me it means more that we sprinkle Babu’s ashes there. That has made us more determined to be on the summit together.”
I’m so pleased they made it and it is such a wonderful feat of courage determination and coming to terms with the loss of an adorned climbing friend.
For the full story see the Belfast Telegraph