American daredevil free-climbs Taiwan's tallest building / Photo: I-HWA CHENG - AFP
American daredevil free-climbs Taiwan's tallest building
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 (508 metres) 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.
- 'Lifelong 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.
"It's been a lifelong dream of mine to climb a skyscraper," Honnold said in a promotional video for the climb on Netflix's Facebook page on Tuesday.
"So I am going to be free-soloing Taipei 101 ... No ropes, no gear, just me and the building."
Honnold declared it would mark the "biggest urban free-solo climb" to ever be attempted. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold moved up the 101-storey glass and steel building swiftly.
The weather was clear as he scaled the building's southeast face.
At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos of the dramatic ascent.
People watching from inside the building could be seen gawking and tapping at the glass as Honnold scrambled past the enclosed glass observation deck on the 89th floor.
Taipei 101 chairwoman Janet Chia said on Saturday on Threads that it was touching to hear that fans had travelled from Singapore, Hong Kong and southern Taiwan to watch the climb and apologised for the delay in the event.
"But this epic event is definitely worth the wait," Chia added.
The climb took Honnold one and a half hours to reach the top, where he could be seen looking down at the crowd with his arms up in the air.
In 2004, Alain Robert, dubbed "the French Spiderman," was the first person to climb the skyscraper, but did so in rainy conditions with the help of safety ropes.
A.Fallone--PV
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