On January 23, free soloist Alex Honnold will climb the 508m Taipei 101 building, as Netflix broadcasts the spectacle live.
The American climber will make his first move up the 101-storey glass and steel building at 8 pm Eastern Standard Time in the U.S. with no ropes or safety gear. As he performs, climber Emily Harrington, YouTuber Mark Rober, WWE fighter Seth Rollins, and sport climbing commentator Pete Woods will comment in a program hosted by Elle Duncan.
Better not fall
“It will be the biggest urban free-solo climb ever,” Honnold hypes in a trailer released yesterday:
The trailer states the obvious: the stunt leaves no room for error, and if he falls, Honnold will die live on TV.
“No matter how much you prepare, occasionally things just happen,” Honnold admits in the video, then concluding: “If you fall, you’re gonna die.”
Obviously, the climber is confident that he won’t fall, and so is the only man who has climbed Taipei 101 before: 64-year-old Alain Robert of France, one of the world’s most experienced urban solo climbers, who did some hair-raising solo free climbs of his own three decades ago.
Meeting French Spiderman
Robert soloed over 200 buildings around the world, as well as rock walls. According to Honnold, who chatted with Robert on his Climbing Gold podcast, the solo climbs that Robert did on rock during the 80s and 90s came the closest to the limits of human potential at the time. He free soloed the first 5.13d grade (8b) routes in 1991, a much higher level of difficulty than Honnold’s own free solo of El Capitan.
Alain Robert, known as The French Spiderman, climbed Taipei 101 on Christmas Day in 2004. Unlike on most of his urban stunts, Robert climbed this building top-roped. This was the condition that local authorities imposed to allow the climb and prevent Robert from ending it handcuffed and under arrest, as happened to him 170 (!) times over the years.
In fact, the 2004 climb was an idea of Taiwan’s government, which thought Robert’s stunt would draw attention to the city right after the tower, the tallest building in the world at the time, was opened.
Since then, Taipei 101 has dropped to number #11 in the rank of the world’s tallest buildings. That record is currently held by Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, which rises 830m from the ground.
Climbing scale for buildings
Robert has concocted a scale of his own between 1 and 10 to estimate the risk and difficulty of climbing particular buildings. He rates Taipei 101 as a 5.5 or 6 — comparable to a modest 5+ or 6 French grade climb.
“Compared to solo rock climbing, buildings are relaxed, as the holds are usually very good, and you are allowed to reduce most of your weight by using your legs properly,” he said.
According to Robert, the hardest buildings to climb are those with only a vertical crack, but Taipei 101 has numerous horizontal beams for resting. They also give good support for moving up.
Robert has stopped soloing high-difficulty rock routes, but he still trains hard daily and continues to climb buildings, although at a more attainable level.
“When I was in my best years, younger, I was a Ferrari pushing it to the red; now I am a diesel Honda Civic, and I still push it to the red,” Robert explained.
What if it rains?
Honnold has rehearsed every move up the building; he will not be climbing on sight. Yet when he asked Robert for advice, the French climber replied to be careful with the weather. When he climbed the tower, he did so in heavy rain. Without a rope, it will be impossible to climb that building in the rain, because glass and aluminium just don’t work when soaked. Honnold said that, in case of bad weather, he might postpone the climb for several hours or even a day.
Check Honnold’s comments and the link to the chat here:
