World-famous climber Alex Honnold has added another jaw-dropping achievement to his resume, this time scaling one of the world’s tallest skyscrapers, completely unroped.
Screenshot from BBC.com video courtesy of Netflix
The American climber successfully free soloed Taipei 101, a 508-metre, 101-storey tower in Taiwan’s capital, climbing the steel, glass and concrete structure without a rope, harness or protective equipment, as reported by BBC.com.
Designed to resemble a stalk of bamboo, the building is an icon of Taiwan’s skyline – and now, a proving ground for one of the planet’s boldest climbers.
Delayed by weather, streamed to the world
Originally planned for Saturday, the climb was postponed due to wet conditions before Honnold began his ascent on Sunday. The climb was streamed live on Netflix, which reportedly ran the broadcast with a built-in delay.
“We’ll cut away,” Netflix executive Jeff Gaspin told Variety ahead of the climb, acknowledging the very real risks involved. “Nobody expects or wants to see anything like that to happen.”
One hour, 31 minutes – and a single-word reaction
Honnold reached the top in one hour and 31 minutes, more than halving the previous record for the building. His reaction? A single word: “Sick.”
The only other climber to have scaled Taipei 101 is French urban climber Alain Robert, known as “Spiderman,” who completed the ascent in four hours using ropes and a harness.
A crowd at the 89th floor
While wind and heat posed obvious challenges, Honnold encountered an unexpected distraction near the top. As he reached the 89th floor, office workers pressed against the glass, cheering and waving as he clung to the exterior just metres away.
Footage shared by Honnold and Netflix on Instagram shows him acknowledging the crowd briefly before continuing upward, undeterred.
Congratulations – and nerves – from the ground
Taiwan’s Vice-President, Hsiao Bi-khim, congratulated Honnold on social media, writing: “I admit I would probably feel sick, too, barely able to watch.”
Waiting for him at the summit was his wife, who later admitted she had been concerned about the wind and heat conditions throughout the climb.
From Yosemite to the world’s skylines
Honnold is best known for his historic free solo ascent of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park – a 915-metre granite wall climbed without ropes. The feat was documented in Free Solo, which went on to win an Academy Award.
With his Taipei 101 ascent, Honnold continues to blur the line between human capability and sheer nerve, reminding travellers and thrill-seekers alike that adventure doesn’t always happen off-grid. Sometimes, it unfolds hundreds of metres above a city street.
