TAIPEI: An American climber took on Taiwan´s tallest building on Sunday, without ropes or safety gear, in a daring feat that drew hundreds of spectators to the tower´s base and many more online through a live Netflix broadcast.
Alex Honnold, 40, has conquered some of the world´s most intimidating rock faces and rose to global fame in 2017 after he climbed Yosemite´s “El Capitan”, lauded among his peers as the pinnacle of technical difficulty on the massive granite monolith.
On Sunday, he climbed Taipei 101, which towers 1,667 feet into the air, as large crowds gathered and cheered below.
Honnold is the first person to free solo climb Taipei 101, without a rope, harness, or safety net, but not the first to scale the large building.
Richard Bode, 34 said watching the event was a “once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Another onlooker, Benson, 24, called the climb “incredibly brave”, while others, like Lin Chia-jou, 54, told AFP that she found it “terrifying” but admired Honnold for the hard work he´d put into achieving his dream.
The challenge, titled “Skyscraper Live”, was scheduled to be broadcast on Netflix on Saturday (0100 GMT), but it was postponed due to bad weather.
