Alex Honnold isn’t sure what meaning viewers will ultimately take from his ropeless, death-defying ascent of Taipei 101 — but he has a few hopes.
“Honestly, I don’t really know,” Honnold told Netflix commentator Elle Duncan when she asked him — less than an hour after he had safely returned to the ground — what he thought the takeaway of his feat might be “for all of the people who watched across the world.”
After briefly pausing to collect his thoughts, Honnold said he had learned from the response to his harrowing, Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo that “people kind of take the message that they need from it.”
“People often find the inspiration that they need to pursue their own challenges, their own goals,” he explained. “Or, you know, it’s often the kick they need to do whatever it is that they want to do in their life.”
Honnold said he didn’t expect Netflix viewers would suddenly feel inspired to take up the uniquely dangerous sport of free soloing after witnessing his example.
“But maybe they’ll watch something like this, and it’ll be a reminder that their time is finite, and they should use it in the best way they can,” he added. “If anything, I hope that’s what people take from it — that if you work really hard, you can do hard things, and maybe they should try.”
Honnold’s wife — and the mother of his two children — Sanni McCandless, was by his side at the press conference, just as she had been earlier on Sunday atop an upper balcony of Taipei 101 to embrace him after he descended from the spire. She said the aspect of her husband that viewers often miss is the underlying motivation behind the relentless work and personal risk he devotes to his craft.
“What people don’t understand until they get to watch him is how much fun he’s having, and just how joyful he is when he’s doing it,” she said. “It’s almost like a childlike joy — like, I’m up here and I’m playing. I think that was the really cool part of today — that we all got to watch him have a lot of fun.”
The joy was indeed surprisingly evident throughout Honnold’s anxiety-inducing climb, which unfolded over just more than an hour and a half on Sunday morning local time, as he methodically worked his way up the 1,667-foot tower — completing what is now believed to be the world’s tallest urban free solo ascent to date. Thousands of spectators gathered outside a large exclusion zone around the base of the building, while hundreds more watched from inside Taipei 101, waving from office windows and observation decks as Honnold passed, occasionally stopping to chalk his hands or flash a quick wave back.
The route itself was divided into three distinct sections: a lower, slabby opening stretch of several hundred feet that served as Honnold’s “warmup,” a long middle section of repeating “bamboo box” platforms that demanded sustained focus and pacing, and a final, highly exposed upper section featuring ringed overhangs and, at the very top, a narrow spire capped by a small spherical platform barely large enough for one person to stand on. Although it was a gloriously clear and sunny day in Taipei, conditions grew slightly more challenging as Honnold climbed higher, with winds whipping around the building’s corners and upper reaches. Late in the climb, he also noted on mic, with a laugh, that he was feeling “kind of tired,” before calmly continuing upward.
At the summit, Honnold pulled himself onto the spire’s tiny platform, waved to the crowd below and briefly raised his arms in triumph before letting out a triumphant “siiiick,” while taking in the view and snapping a quick selfie.
The climb was broadcast globally as Skyscraper Live, Netflix’s latest foray into live programming, part of a growing slate of sports and event-based experiments. Lead-hosted by Duncan, the telecast combined live drone and helicopter footage, a cable-mounted camera system and on-building cameramen with pre-taped segments explaining the technical demands of the climb. A 10-second broadcast delay was built in as a safety precaution, and viewers were repeatedly warned not to attempt anything similar.
Skyscraper Live marked Honnold’s first time free soloing in front of a large crowd — let alone a global TV viewership — since many of the rock faces he has completed are situated in remote wilderness locations. He said the reaction from the crowd — audible even as he climbed hundreds of feet above the street — surprised him. “It kind of gave it a different energy, which kind of bolstered me,” he said. “It felt more like a celebration than I expected.” Smiling, he added: “That was cool.”
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