{"id":2249333,"date":"2026-01-25T06:06:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T06:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2249333"},"modified":"2026-01-25T06:06:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T06:06:19","slug":"american-rock-climber-alex-honnold-reaches-top-of-taipei-101-skyscraper-without-ropes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/american-rock-climber-alex-honnold-reaches-top-of-taipei-101-skyscraper-without-ropes\/","title":{"rendered":"American rock climber Alex Honnold reaches top of Taipei 101 skyscraper without ropes"},"content":{"rendered":"

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TAIPEI<\/strong> \u2013 American rock climber Alex Honnold ascended the Taipei 101 skyscraper on Sunday without any ropes or protective equipment.<\/p>\n

Cheers erupted from a street-level crowd as he reached the top of the spire of the 508-meter (1,667-foot) tower about 90 minutes after he started. Wearing a red short-sleeve shirt, Honnold waved his arms back and forth over his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like what a view, it\u2019s incredible, what a beautiful day,\u201d he said afterward. \u201cIt was very windy, so I was like, don\u2019t fall off the spire. I was trying to balance nicely. But it was, what an incredible position, what a beautiful way to see Taipei.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honnold, known for his ropeless ascent<\/a> up Yosemite National Park\u2019s El Capitan, climbed up one corner of Taipei 101 using small L-shaped outcroppings as footholds. Periodically, he had to maneuver around and clamber up the sides of large ornamental structures that jut out from the tower, pulling himself up with his bare hands.<\/p>\n

The building has 101 floors, with the hardest part being the 64 floors of the middle section \u2014 the \u201cbamboo boxes\u201d that give the building its signature look. Divided into eight, each segment has eight floors of steep, overhanging climbing followed by balconies, where he took short rests as he made his way upward.<\/p>\n

Honnold’s free solo climb of the iconic building<\/a> in Taiwan’s capital city was broadcast live on Netflix with a 10-second delay. The ascent, originally scheduled for Saturday, was delayed for 24 hours due to rain.<\/p>\n

Having a cheering crowd was unusual and a bit unnerving at first for Honnold, whose climbs are usually in remote areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was leaving the ground, you’re like oh it\u2019s kind of intense, there\u2019s so many people watching,\u201d he said. \u201cBut then honestly, they\u2019re all wishing me well. I mean basically it just makes the whole experience feel almost more festive, all these nice people are out supporting me and having a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The climb drew both excitement and concern over the ethical implications of attempting such a high-risk endeavor on live broadcast.<\/p>\n

Honnold isn’t the first climber to ascend Taipei 101, but he is the first to do so without a rope. French rock climber Alain Robert scaled the building on Christmas Day in 2004 as part of the grand opening of what was then the world\u2019s tallest building.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press video journalist Taijing Wu and writer Ken Moritsugu in Beijing contributed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.click2houston.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TAIPEI \u2013 American rock climber Alex Honnold ascended the Taipei 101 skyscraper on Sunday without any ropes or protective equipment. Cheers erupted from a street-level crowd as he reached the top of the spire of the 508-meter (1,667-foot) tower about 90 minutes after he started. Wearing a red short-sleeve shirt, Honnold waved his arms back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2249334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[435260,21741,21848,22814],"class_list":["post-2249333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-alex-honnold","tag-entertainment","tag-sports","tag-world-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/American-rock-climber-Alex-Honnold-reaches-top-of-Taipei-101.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2249333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2249333"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2249333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2249335,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2249333\/revisions\/2249335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2249334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2249333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2249333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2249333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}