Famous rock climber Alex Honnold, 40, successfully completed a free solo ascent of the 101-story skyscraper, Taipei 101, live on Netflix this Saturday. The climb was originally scheduled for Friday night EST (which is morning in Taiwan), but was moved to Saturday due to rain. I had the nail biting experience of watching it live, but I had to search for the broadcast. On Saturday night Netflix didn’t feature it on my homepage even though I had added it to my watchlist. They also didn’t put a “postponed” notice on the thumbnail when I checked Friday night, they just changed the broadcast date to Saturday. Despite this minor usability issue, and a glitch of about ten seconds early in the broadcast, it went off without a hitch. That’s not to say it wasn’t without issues, which had nothing to do with Honnold’s climb. More on that in a moment.
Honnold’s ascent, which took about an hour and forty minutes, was absolutely thrilling to watch. It felt like we were witnessing history and it was one of the greatest feats in athleticism I’ve ever seen. Here’s more, from NPR:
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 and forth over his head.
“It was like what a view, it’s incredible, what a beautiful day,” he said afterward. “It was very windy, so I was like, don’t fall off the spire. I was trying to balance nicely. But it was, what an incredible position, what a beautiful way to see Taipei.”
Honnold, known for his ropeless ascent up Yosemite National Park’s 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…
Honnold’s free solo climb of the iconic building 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.
Having a cheering crowd was unusual and a bit unnerving at first for Honnold, whose climbs are usually in remote areas.
“When I was leaving the ground, you’re like oh it’s kind of intense, there’s so many people watching,” he said. “But then honestly, they’re 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.”
The climb drew both excitement and concern over the ethical implications of attempting such a high-risk endeavor on live broadcast.
I watched with my boyfriend who is a rock climber and wasn’t as scared as I would be otherwise. For instance when Honnold hooked his feet into the rings near the top of the tower and hung there, he told me it wasn’t as dangerous as I assumed and was to give his arms a break. He said it looked relaxing to him! My palms were still sweating though. The parts that scared me the most were the beginning ascent and when Honnold was climbing the “dragons,” of which there are ten. These are the decorative connecting pieces between the landings and he had to use his feet and swing around a little. He climbed nine of these and was mostly doing it for the cameras, since he could have gone around them. He told his wife Sanni afterwards about how he skipped the last one. That was smart because he said he was tired at that point.
Netflix’s commentators were inane and only included one professional climber. We muted them during the second part of the broadcast because they were so distracting and annoying. There were times when Honnold was speaking that you couldn’t hear him due to the commentary. There were thousands of people on the ground and in the building waving to Honnold and I worried that they would throw him off his game. He seemed happy to see them though and only looked confused when he saw his wife, Sanni, on one of the upper floors. He kind of gestured like “What are you doing there?” The focus on Sanni and her potential grief seemed gross to me, but she remained upbeat when they questioned her and said that this was her husband’s lifelong dream. Sanni and Alex have two toddler-aged daughters. He’s said that he didn’t want to die climbing before he had kids or after he had kids.
As for Honnold’s payday he’s called it “embarassingly low,” it’s said to be in the mid six figures, and that he would climb Tapei 101 for free. It’s clear when you watch this man that he absolutely loves to climb and that he was thrilled to do this. I hope it leads to massive sponsorships and opportunities for him. He’s one of the greatest athletes of all time and will definitely go down in history. He’s 40 now and I hope he retires at some point soon though.
No hands is crazy. @AlexHonnold #SkyscraperLIVE pic.twitter.com/twmCSX5nDS
— Netflix (@netflix) January 25, 2026
Alex Honnold’s selfie from the top of Taipei 101 after his historic free solo. #SkyscraperLIVE pic.twitter.com/utODFAzzbX
— Netflix (@netflix) January 25, 2026
Alex Honnold successfully free soloed the Taipei 101 tower for the challenge.
He climbed all 101 floors in 1 hour and 35 minutes.
This is a timelapse.pic.twitter.com/ObE1oJe7yT
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) January 25, 2026
Photos courtesy of Netflix Press
I’m so happy for him that he accomplished this goal, and that he did it safely, but I could not watch. It was too stressful for me, thinking of the worst possible outcome. I am Gen X and remember watching Evil Knievel jump over all sorts of things and remember his injuries after his failed attempt at the Grand Canyon. My nervous system just couldn’t handle a live feed of the climb.
I don’t know how anyone can watch. I would not want to be that man’s wife.
I couldn’t watch either, and I absolutely could not be married to him. My anxiety does not need real time feats of athleticism to fixate on, it does enough of that with imaginary threats.
Alex is just amazing. He is operating on some other wavelength lol. We watched the whole event. I was so nervous. Certain camera angles made me feel sick. The female host was irritating but the guy doing the “science” bits was worse. And why was some wrestler there? The female climber wasn’t even asked good questions. It was quite the amateur production aside from the camera work.
The wrestler was there because Netflix has a deal with WWE.
Okay, it makes me laugh that there was a wrestler giving commentary. How is that remotely relevant?
I got vertigo from that one tiny clip. I suppose building climbing isn’t going to result in an expensive search and rescue like wilderness adventures do, but I’m not sure I understand the point?
My 11yo daughter has been obsessed with Alex s8nce we watched Free Solo when she was 4ish… she refused to watch and trashed his wife for allowing him to do this… it was hysterical. At least it was hysterical AFTER he successfully completed the climb.
He is amazing but I too simply hope he retires and get the chance to be a living legend.
He is already a living legend.
My ex was into climbing and really loved to get to do outdoor (natural rock) climbs. Sometimes I went along and took pics, other times I stayed at home (and once got poison ivy anyway because those bozos didn’t realize they were dragging their ropes through it! I didn’t even go that time!)
The ex was not a free solo dude. One of the things that he told me was that whenever he was outside, he took fewer risks. Did climbs he knew he could nail. I just learned to live with it.
Roped up in the gym, you can go for anything, and just bounce off. That’s where you level up.
Outside is a different game. Honnold is in a class by himself and I know he was absolutely positive that he could nail this climb. It’s not even that technical! It’s a bunch of squares! Buildering isn’t bouldering.
Altho it would have been pretty funny if there happened to be a nest of spiders in one of the dragons. On one of the trips I saw someone put his hand into a crack in a rock face, shriek, and jump off the wall. Fortunately not from very high, and he was roped. Turned out to be a nest of spiders! I was all, I’m just going to stick to photography and maybe a little boulder scrambling.
Good for Alex for getting that stack.
That is absolutely amazing and 100% terrifying at the same time! What an athlete!!
(Could only watch a tiny clip this morning and even that made my breakfast roll around inside.)
I watched too but not with sound. There are so many professional climbers that do commentary on indoor Bouldering World Cup competitions that Netflix could’ve gotten. The crowd kind of went nuts on a standard Knee Bar near the top but that’s a safe “rest” move. It allows climbers to shake out their arms and fingers that have been bent or crimped in one position for awhile. It’s not a “look at me no hands” move.
It wasn’t a technically difficult climb whatsoever but it looked pretty cool all the same. I’m really looking forward for indoor Climbing’s 3rd Olympics! Bouldering is on its own as a solo event now and its technical moves are the hardest. Honnold has done commentary for Bouldering and he’s awesome at it. Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret is going for her 3rd gold in a row, she’s in a class of her own.
This is truly astounding and I really like Alex since I have watched several of his interviews.
However I will never watch this. The livestream aspect of it, his wife being filmed,I just can’t support something like this.
I would be horrified if my kids pursued something like this, especially if they have spouses and young children.
I remember they did an MRI of his brain for Free Solo, he really doesn’t feel fear like the rest of us and is built different. I find him really humble despite all the attention he gets
We watched this live too, it was a nice distraction from the news out of Minnesota. Incredibly stressful to watch–my husband couldn’t watch, lol. But SO VERY EXCITING. I was annoyed at them trying to interview him as he was climbing! Such an incredible feat and I’m glad he was successful. I can’t imagine what it would have been like if he had fallen.
I get queasy just from one photo – never ever could I watch this.
Oh dear god in heaven, I couldn’t have watched the whole thing! These clips darned near did me in! He is amazing! And shout out to the camera operator dangling by rope all along the way!
He actually stood on the very tippy top!! That’s the part that scared me the most, lol. I love watching the climbing competitions in the Olympics.
I’ve watched ‘Free Solo’ multiple times and is one of the reasons I haven’t given up my Disney+ subscription (yet). But that was done by professionals Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi with elite climber-cinematographers (even though Mikey Schafer couldn’t watch at times). The film crew for ‘Arctic Ascent’ (2024) also had expert climbers, and was noted for their ability to operate in extreme, cold, technical environments. This Netflix special sounds ghastly with inane non-climbing commentators. I’ll watch because I love watching him climb, but it’s too bad I don’t have a selective mute button on my remote.
Amazing, impressive, and for me, terrifying to watch! He is just so cool!