Alex Honnold Free Solo Climbs A 101-Story Skyscraper
This is straight up bonkers and crazy dangerous, but when Alex Honnold set his sights on the 1667-foot tall Taipei 101 skyscraper to climb without a net or ropes, Netflix was on board to stream it live. That’s what happened on Saturday (January 24), when Honnold set a new record in urban climbing wearing zero safety gear. And he did it in under two hours again, with NO SAFETY NET OR ROPES. During the climb, Honnold revealed he listened to his curated playlist featuring Tool.
In a post-climb interview with Variety, Honnold said he never doubted he would get to the top but he DID notice the wind and fatigue did become a factor. “I definitely noticed the wind. And then, yeah, I was getting tired a little by the top. I wasn’t concerned that, ‘Oh, I’m so tired. I’m gonna fall off,’” he said. “But I was like, ‘OK, I’m feeling it!’”
No word on what he got paid, but according to Honnold, it was “embarrassingly” small compared to other pro athletes. We were exhausted just watching but WOAH! Thank you, Alex, for avoiding a live-streamed tragic demise because that would have been AWFUL.