The American climbing legend waits another day.
Why Alex Honnold's live climb of Taipei 101 on Netflix was postponed originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
American rock climber Alex Honnold will have to wait another day to Free Solo Taiwan’s Taipei 101, one of the tallest buildings in the world. The death-defying star of the 2018 Academy Award-winning documentary Free Solo will attempt an unprecedented ascent Saturday.
This comes after officials moved the event due to weather in the area. Netflix announced it would be broadcast at the same time, and will now stream on Saturday, January 24 at 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT.
Honnold plans to climb all 1,667 feet of the skyscraper without a rope, harness or safety net — the same approach he used in 2017 when he became the first person to free solo Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan.
The climb will be broadcast live worldwide on Netflix, marking the first time such a dangerous ascent has been streamed in real time.
No one has ever free soloed Taipei 101. Urban climber Alain Robert, known as the “French Spider-Man,” scaled the building shortly after it opened in 2004, but only after Taiwanese officials required the use of a rope.
Buildings present a unique challenge even for elite climbers. Unlike rock faces, which often feature subtle angles and natural variations, skyscrapers are relentlessly vertical. “Buildings are steeper than most rock faces,” Honnold told Netflix’s Tudum.
Taipei 101’s pagoda-like “bamboo box” sections add another layer of difficulty, forcing climbers to execute repeated, physically demanding sequences between balconies.
The two-hour event, titled “Skyscraper Live,” will include communication between Honnold and the production team, with camera operators stationed inside and outside the building.
Organizers said the broadcast will run on a short delay and could be postponed if weather conditions — including even light rain — are unsafe.
Despite the risks, Honnold has sounded characteristically calm. He has described the climb as a rare opportunity and a chance to satisfy a long-standing curiosity about scaling a massive man-made structure. “It’s hard enough to be engaging for me,” he said on Robert’s podcast.
For viewers, the stakes will feel unmistakably high and history is certain to be made, one way or another, high above Taipei’s skyline.
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Category: General Sports
