Going Up With Alex Honnold
With his hands covered in white chalk, 40-year-old Alex Honnold walked stoically up to the ruyi-inspired glass-and-steel façade of one of the tallest buildings on Earth, Taipei 101. 508 metres of bamboo-joints, reflective glass, jagged edges, metal beams and decorative fins, rising above the dense streets of Taiwan’s capital.
The weather conditions on the 25th of January were fair for his 9a.m. start, even though slight blusters arched over Qixing Mountain from the west and were causing a swell to form. There had been heavy rain the day before, causing the ascent to be postponed.
Dressed in a red short-sleeved The North Face t-shirt and baggy dark trousers, the expression on his face was one of sheer determination, his brow furrowed; he was as focused as an eagle. His ear-pieces were poised to start playing music—his favorite American rock band, Tool.
A tiny dust cloud was taken away by the air as he dipped his hand into a chalk bag tied to his waist by a long piece of slipknotted string. Alex’s eyes were fixed on the structure, darting up and down and side to side, like he was solving a complex puzzle, to plan out his safest route. He turned sharply, his shoulders rising and falling. He was amping himself up. Honnold’s burrowed frown disappeared and his expression turned in mere seconds from concern and deep concentration to utter elation. He beamed the widest smile at the cameras, that were all poised to capture one of the greatest feats in human endurance in recent memory. Alex was excited. ‘Ready.’
Skyscraper Live will forever go down in history for being the craziest and most impressive sporting achievements undertaken, with a viewership of 6.2 million watching live on Netflix and breaking the record for being the highest free solo climb of an urban structure. The Guardian has already called it out as the ‘most stressful TV experience on record’.
I sat on my sofa watching it live, my nervous heart caught in my throat, heeding none of Honnold’s adventurous chutzpah. My mouth was open in astonishment, knuckles white in fear, praying that Alex didn’t slip off the tower.
During the impressive climb, Honnold had three sections to consider. The first hurdle he had to overcome was the base section, or Truncated Pyramid, consisting of a 25-story pyramid-shaped ‘slabby’ block. The second, the middle section, or the ‘Bamboo Boxes’—64 floors divided into eight 8-story modules that ramped upwards and then flared out by balconies. And the third most grueling part…the upper section with its heart-stopping ringed overhangs and spire that touched up to the clouds.
Climbing, especially doing it solo, is oftentimes deemed as exclusive or rare—a niche, new-age subculture to sport—where the greatest names in the field are virtually unknown. It’s interesting to note that historically Victorian climbers in the Alps were the first ones to do it. Over the years, and thanks to better technology and equipment, climbers like Alex are just raising the bar higher and higher, year after year. A convergence of sport, nature and human capacity. With Netflix’s help, through the live broadcast, Skyscraper Live successfully invited audiences over the world to experience the thrill of the climb in a recognizable setting, the urban jungle.
After his first recorded free solo climb in 2007 in Yosemite National Park’s Astroman route and the Rostrum (both completed in the same day, might I add) his name started circulating the US climbing community. Alex had been training relentlessly, studying the art of rock climbing, (all whilst living in a run-down van, a 2002 Ford Econoline E150.)
He has been obsessed with climbing since age one, according to his mother, Deidre (a French teacher), who explained to Medium in 2017 that he had full mobility and was already climbing onto kitchen appliances as a young child. At age 11, a rock climbing gym had opened up in his home town and he instantly became obsessed, dedicating hours and hours, days and days and weeks and weeks on honing this much-loved craft. His love became so obsessive that he hardly went to class, after getting accepted into the University of Berkeley with an engineering program, so decided to drop out after his first year to climb full-time. He then lived in that aforementioned van and on a strict diet of only hardboiled eggs.
A year after free climbing Astroman and Rostrum, he tackled to crack the 365 metre Moonlight Buttress and then the unprecedented glacial northwest face of Half Dome in Yosemite, both done successfully. Just another day…achieving his goals. That climb was heralded as the ‘most impressive ropeless ascent[’s] ever done’ by fellow climber, Canadian-born Peter Croft who had completed the climb in 1985 with a Hell of a lot more difficulty.
El Capitan nine years ago in Yosemite National Park (which earned global attention through the Oscar-winning documentary, Free Solo) proved that the man can make quite the reputation for himself for having and climbing insanely big rocks. In 2024 too, Disney+ released Arctic Ascent with Alex Honnold, where he climbed Ingmikortilaq, a 1,143 metre sea cliff in Greenland, one of the highest unclimbed cliff faces all in the name of science.
The difference, however, in Taiwan, was that skyscrapers aren’t necessarily supposed to be climbed, trusting small crevices and inlets, relying heavily on finger strength and body tension, rather than the friction he would usually get from the stone. It was his ability to remain calm that was the most impressive thing. It was a reminder of Honnold’s understated character, his dryness and subtle refusal to be consumed by spectacle.
It wasn’t a spectacle at all for Alex. It was a life-time goal completed. It was endurance personified. After one hour and thirty-one minutes, he finally made it to the steel precipice (after a jaunty ladder-climb that seemed harder for him to do than 99 percent of the climb.) He looked so happy at himself.
The camera zoomed in on Alex, who smiled and exclaimed the word: ‘yay!’
As the wind continued to batter Alex, he finished the ascent at the very top of Taipei 101 (508 metres above ground-level, may I remind you) with the most humanly-striking (yet absolutely insane) moment. He took out his mobile, leaned over the edge, waved down at everyone and then took a selfie. Maybe it was a deliberate play to the cameras watching him, on livestream, over the world? Maybe it was a reminder of Honnold’s dry personality and subtle humour? Or maybe (and most likely) it was just Alex on another climb, doing what he does…
In completing this monstrous climb, Alex Honnold remained stoic after his extraordinary achievement. As he suspended over Taiwan, between steel, glass and sky, he was on top of the world. His world. The place where bravery and discipline and courageousness and hope are paramount. Where his desire to climb will always reach in only one direction….
Up.
