I know nothing about climbing. beyond the straight flex of "I could die if I make a mistake", is there a point to doing this without safety equipment?
Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net
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Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net
#12In other tower climbing events, some things cannot be free climbed (too smooth, fingers aren't made for window cleaning tracks, etc).
The 1988 ascent of the Sydney Centrepoint was a technical climb with custom jumars for both the cables and the window tracks and a fun challenge for all, both the scouting, the climb, and the filming.
Originally titled The Only Building I Ever Wanted To Climb, later released as A Spire, there's a documentary film that follows a climb at night of "only" 1,000 feet.
... with a massive overhang.
Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net
#13This is a very irresponsible thing to do when you have children.
Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net
#14I know nothing about climbing. beyond the straight flex of "I could die if I make a mistake", is there a point to doing this without safety equipment?
He's spoken about it extensively in interviews. Watch his El Capitan movie or recent interviews before this climb.
He just finds it very peaceful and thrilling. "Just him and the climb" kind of language.
Also I suppose clout has to be involved: only person to free solo El Capitan, as far as I know the only person to climb Taipei 101 let alone free solo (did the spiderman guy ever make it or was he arrested?)
Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net
#15In his El Capitan climb (Free Solo), Alex was worried about cameras or presence of friends watching interfering with the climb. As oppose to that, this climb must have felt very different!
Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net
#16I and some friends observed his climb from the base of Taipei 101. Thousands of people were present and it was very good fun how the crowd would react when he made it to another ledge, and when he made it to the top people were shouting and cheering. It was like a great big party.
I imagine Threads and Instagram just got hit with like ten thousand vertical video clips of the climb if you're interested in seeing for yourself.
For me it was almost scary how abruptly he started and made it up the first ledge. Dude just fuckin went for it. Made me realize, for the first time, how truly incredible the feat was to be.
The observation deck level is often so windy I worry about losing my phone if I take it out. I can't comprehend how he managed that wind while hanging on by his fingertips. Then he stood at the tippy top for quite some time, which must be unbelievably windy. At some point he was tethered in for the rapelle down though so maybe he clipped in right as he got to the top.
Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net
#17In his El Capitan climb (Free Solo), Alex was worried about cameras or presence of friends watching interfering with the climb. As oppose to that, this climb must have felt very different!
I wondered the same because there was a helicopter the entire time. Also the very tip top of Taipei 101 appeared to have many cameras mounted on it, at least through binoculars.
Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net
#18Stuff like this seems a bit... selfish? to me. Why risk falling, and people having to see that/having to clean that up? For a bit of adrenaline and publicity? Meh.
Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net
#19Very impressive feat, no doubt about it. But the commentary on the Netflix broadcast ruined the spectator experience completely. It was utterly unbearable.
The Taiwanese live feed news channels on YouTube were great. Little to no commentary and you could hear the crowd engagement.
Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net
#20This is a very irresponsible thing to do when you have children.
Yeah I hope he made enough money to stop.