Noel's regiment spent summers near the Himalayas and in 1913 he travelled in disguise into Tibet in order to approach Mount Everest. After serving in Europe during the First World War, in 1919 he lectured about his travels near Everest to the Royal Geographical Society. Sir Francis Younghusband used the occasion to call for the ascent of Mount Everest in 1921. Noel eventually became a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS). He joined the 1922 Everest expedition as its official photographer and filmmaker and produced a short film, Climbing Mount Everest (1922).