American rock climber Alex Honnold has completed his terrifying ascent up a 101-storey tower in Taiwan without ropes that was broadcast live on Netflix.
The 40-year-old successfully scaled Taiwan’s 1,667 feet Taipei 101 skyscraper – formerly the world’s tallest building – on Sunday morning in his signature free solo style.
Cheers erupted from a street-level crowd as he reached the top of the spire of the tower about 90 minutes after he started. Wearing a red short-sleeve shirt, he waved his arms back and forth over his head.
Thousands of people, who had lined the streets around Taipei 101 to watch, went wild in celebration as he even paused at the summit to take a selfie.
Honnold’s wife Sanni greeted him with a kiss near the top as he started to make his way back down using a rope. She had been watching from the ground and then made her way up the building to get a better look.
Much to the relief of Netflix’s viewers, Honnold agreed to take the elevator back down to ground level with the wind swirling around him.
‘It was like what a view, it´s incredible, what a beautiful day,’ he said afterward.
‘It was very windy, so I was like, don´t fall off the spire. I was trying to balance nicely. But it was, what an incredible position, what a beautiful way to see Taipei.’
He looked composed throughout his climb, talking to Netflix host Elle Duncan throughout and even asking why his music had stopped playing as he tackled steel and glass surfaces.
Known for his ropeless ascent up Yosemite National Park´s El Capitan, Honnold climbed up one corner of Taipei 101 using small L-shaped outcroppings as footholds.
Periodically, he had to maneuver around and clamber up the sides of large ornamental structures that jut out from the tower, pulling himself up with his bare hands.
The building has 101 floors, with the hardest part being the 64 floors of the middle section – the ‘bamboo boxes’ that give the building its signature look.
Divided into eight, each segment has eight floors of steep, overhanging climbing followed by balconies, where he took short rests as he made his way upward.
‘When I was leaving the ground, you’re like oh it´s kind of intense, there´s so many people watching,’ he said. ‘But then honestly, they´re all wishing me well. I mean basically it just makes the whole experience feel almost more festive, all these nice people are out supporting me and having a good time.’
Honnold’s ascent had to be put back 24 hours due to wet weather conditions in the city on Saturday morning. The broadcast was also on a 10-second delay.
The much-anticipated event has caused excitement across the globe but has led to some fans questioning the 40-year-old’s motive, as he is a married father of two girls.
Built in 2004, Taipei 101 features mostly glass curtain walls, with balconies near the top.
Honnold is not be the first climber to ascend the skyscraper but would be the first to do so without a rope.
French rock climber Alain Robert scaled the building on Christmas Day in 2004, as part of the grand opening of what was then the world’s tallest building.
He took nearly four hours to finish, almost twice as long as what he anticipated, while nursing an injured elbow and battered by wind and rain.
Honnold, who had been training for months, previously said he did not think the climb would be hard.
He said he had practiced the moves on the building. Speaking on a climbing podcast, he added: ‘I don’t think it’ll be that extreme.
‘We’ll see. I think it’s the perfect sweet spot where it’s hard enough to be engaging for me and obviously an interesting climb.’
