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Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net

cnn.com

21–30 of 153 posts

Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net

#21
post #18

Stuff 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.

The Taipei tourism bureau disagrees. Many here as well. The more eyes on Taiwan, the better. I'm grateful Alex was willing to risk his life for this spectacle, now potentially millions will have at least some concept of Taipei and Taiwan in their minds.

Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net

#23
post #16

I 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 y…

He was not clipped in while standing at the top. That part actually made me the most nervous because you could see the wind blowing him around

Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net

#24

This is a very irresponsible thing to do when you have children.

That’s what life insurance is for!

Come on, plenty of fathers and husbands have worked in coal mines, oil rigs; gone to war; served on ICE raids against armed insurgents. It is often hazardous to be a breadwinner. It seems that this dude is following his passion, for better or worse.

Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net

#25
post #21
post #18

Stuff 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.

The Taipei tourism bureau disagrees. Many here as well. The more eyes on Taiwan, the better. I'm grateful Alex was willing to risk his life for this spectacle, now potentially millions will have at least some concept of Taipei and Taiwan in their minds.

That a government would be willing to risk this for publicity isn't really changing my mind.

"Come to Taiwan; you may or may not watch someone plummet to their death while here" doesn't appeal to me, personally anyway. Anyway that guy that did it with safety equipment a few years back made the rounds in the news too, so not sure this was necessary in that regard.

Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net

#26
post #22

Does anyone have a link to good video footage of the climb?

Netflix has a stream with close-up cameras, as they were the ones who arranged the whole thing. Unfortunately the commentary and color grading are both terrible: https://www.netflix.com/watch/81987107

A YouTube search pulls up a stream filmed from the ground (a nearby building?) using a zoom lens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vzthkg2ti2Q

Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net

#28
post #5

Very impressive feat, no doubt about it. But the commentary on the Netflix broadcast ruined the spectator experience completely. It was utterly unbearable.

Honestly surprised that there was no audio option to disable the commentators.

Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net

#29
post #21
post #18

Stuff 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.

The Taipei tourism bureau disagrees. Many here as well. The more eyes on Taiwan, the better. I'm grateful Alex was willing to risk his life for this spectacle, now potentially millions will have at least some concept of Taipei and Taiwan in their minds.

Did he do this climb with no safety equipment for Taiwan or for Alex?

I'm with the OP - watching people so willfully put their lives in danger isn't my cup of tea. I'm just glad he didn't die.

Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net

#30
We watched the livestream together, such a stressful watch, glad he made it up there. As my partner and both do bouldering, it definitely gives another level of appreciation of just how insane this is. (I still get stressed at times when I'm just 2-3m up in the air lol).
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