TAIPEI, Taiwan — American rock climber Alex Honnold climbed the Taipei 101 skyscraper on Sunday with none ropes or protecting gear.
Cheers erupted from a gathered crowd as he began climbing the 508-meter (1,667-foot) tower earlier Sunday, utilizing the horizontal steel beams to drag himself up along with his naked palms.
The onlookers cheered once more when he paused at one level and rotated to face them, in a crimson short-sleeve shirt that stood out as he made the climb.
Honnold’s free solo climb of the iconic building in Taiwan’s capital metropolis was being broadcast dwell on Netflix with a 10-second delay. The ascent, initially scheduled for Saturday, was delayed for twenty-four hours on account of rain.
The climb drew each pleasure and concern over the moral implications of making an attempt such a high-risk endeavor on dwell broadcast.
Honnold, identified for his ropeless ascent up Yosemite Nationwide Park’s El Capitan, climbed up one nook of Taipei 101 utilizing small L-shaped outcroppings as footholds. Periodically, he needed to maneuver round and clamber up the edges of huge decorative constructions that jut out from the tower.
The constructing has 101 flooring, with the toughest half being the 64 flooring comprising the center part — the “bamboo containers” that give the constructing its signature look. Divided into eight, every section has eight flooring of steep, overhanging climbing adopted by balconies, the place he took brief rests as he made his manner upward.
Honnold is not the primary climber to ascend the skyscraper, however he’s the primary to take action with out a rope. French rock climber Alain Robert scaled the constructing on Christmas Day in 2004 as a part of the grand opening of what was then the world’s tallest constructing.
