Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net • Hacker News Board

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

#151

Post by keepamovin » Thu, Jan 29, 2026, 4:28 AM UTC

SilverSlash wrote: post #53

This was far more thrilling and exciting to watch than I thought it would be. Which feels wrong when I say it, but I don't mean it was a good watch because of the consequences of failing. Rather because it was amazing watching a human perform at such a peak level.

It was amazing. But when it concluded I realized how watching it had made it seem, in retrospect, easy, inevitable, safe. Crazy as that sounds, but watching it updated my perspective. It was "easy", and "safe" if you had trained and worked for it. The possibilities of humanity!

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

#152

Post by cindyllm » Thu, Jan 29, 2026, 4:29 AM UTC

keepamovin wrote: post #150

botacode wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two good ones my gf took here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/gb-cc_my-desperate-attempt-to... The second one is from the inside of the observatory (89th floor). Folks with media passes were allowed to get closer so that's the crowd you see pictured. He's climbing in the background.

You can get a sense of his feelings about this how he talks with his wife at the summit afterwards. He says something like "There were lots of people taking pictures and waving. I was chill", indicating he felt he had done well in a situation he had anticipated may have been challenging. THey'd likely discussed this extensively before. Also, previously through the climb he makes efforts to be deliberate and chooses t…

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

#153

Post by cindyllm » Thu, Jan 29, 2026, 4:32 AM UTC

keepamovin wrote: post #151

SilverSlash wrote: post #53

This was far more thrilling and exciting to watch than I thought it would be. Which feels wrong when I say it, but I don't mean it was a good watch because of the consequences of failing. Rather because it was amazing watching a human perform at such a peak level.

It was amazing. But when it concluded I realized how watching it had made it seem, in retrospect, easy, inevitable, safe. Crazy as that sounds, but watching it updated my perspective. It was "easy", and "safe" if you had trained and worked for it. The possibilities of humanity!

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