An American rock climber has become the first person to scale Taiwan’s tallest building without ropes or a safety harness.
Alex Honnold, 40, completed the ascent of the 1,667-foot (508-metre) Taipei 101 as hundreds of spectators watched from below.
The climber reached the top after around 90 minutes, later describing the view with a single word: “sick”.
The climb was broadcast live on Netflix, which documented the high-risk attempt. Speaking at a press briefing afterwards, Honnold said: “Time is finite,” urging people to “use it in the best way”.
Honnold is best known for his 2017 free solo climb of El Capitan in California’s Yosemite National Park — widely regarded as one of the most technically demanding climbs in the world.
He told reporters that scaling Taipei 101 had been a lifelong ambition, revealing that he had once considered attempting the climb without official permission after an initial request was turned down.
“But then out of respect for the building and respect for all the people on the team who’d allowed me access to look at it, I was like, well obviously I’m not going to poach this,” he said. “I’m going to respect the people and just see if it ever comes together.”
Reflecting on the successful climb more than a decade later, Honnold added: “For the project to come together… it’s so great. What an opportunity. It is such a pleasure.”
-Reuters, AP, dpa, PantherMedia
