TAIPEI, Taiwan — Alex Honnold on Tuesday became the first person to free solo climb Taipei 101, scaling the 508-meter, 101-story skyscraper without ropes, a harness or a safety net in a live-streamed feat that drew hundreds of spectators on the streets below and millions more on Netflix.
The 40-year-old American climber, famed for his 2017 ropeless ascent of El Capitan in Yosemite, moved deliberately up the building’s southeast face for about an hour and a half before topping out and rappelling to the ground, where he reunited with his wife, Sanni McCandless Honnold. The broadcast, billed as “Skyscraper Live,” had been postponed by a day due to rain, but clearer skies opened a narrow window for the attempt.
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Honnold is the first to reach the apex of Taipei 101 without protective equipment. In 2004, French climber Alain Robert, known as “the French Spiderman,” summited the tower using safety ropes in wet conditions. The distinction underscores the stakes of Honnold’s approach: a single mistake at any height could have been fatal.
Wearing a red T-shirt and custom yellow climbing shoes, Honnold navigated the tower’s glass-and-steel exterior, pausing at times on ledges and a mid-building platform to wave to onlookers. As he passed the enclosed observation deck near the 89th floor, office workers and tourists pressed hands to the glass to follow his progress. The scene on the ground was part street festival, part collective breath-holding — one witness described it as a “once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Speaking at a press briefing after the climb, Honnold reflected on why he continues to push boundaries. “Time is finite,” he said, urging people to use it well. He added that scaling Taipei 101 had been a dream for more than a decade and that his first request to attempt the climb was declined, without elaborating further. “For the project to come together more than a decade later … it’s so great. What an opportunity, it is such a pleasure.”
The attempt carried an air of civic theater as well as athletic daring. Taiwan President Lai Ching-te congratulated Honnold, calling the challenge “truly moving.” In a Facebook post, Lai wrote that the climb was “tense, setting hearts racing.” Taipei 101 chairwoman Janet Chia said it was touching to see fans travel from Singapore, Hong Kong and southern Taiwan to watch, and she apologized for the weather-related delay.
For Honnold, whose free solo career has taken him across some of the world’s most imposing rock faces, the urban ascent extends his reputation into a different arena: the complex geometry and slick surfaces of modern architecture. Taipei 101, once the world’s tallest building, presents its own technical puzzle with narrow seams, protruding ledges and varying panel textures — far from the familiar cracks and holds of granite. The precision required is similar; the consequences, just as unforgiving.
Netflix’s live broadcast captured both the mechanics and the mood: wide shots of a lone climber moving across the tower’s grid, cut against crowds craning upward, phones aloft. It was a spectacle steeped in risk, logistics and patience — the weather delay a reminder that, even in the controlled realm of cities, nature sets the terms.
Honnold’s latest breakthrough folds into a career defined by improbable calculations and absolute commitment. On Tuesday in Taipei, the math added up again — another historic ascent, a new line etched into the canon of climbing, and a city momentarily united in awe.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
