{"id":425940,"date":"2026-01-23T23:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T23:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/425940\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T23:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T23:34:10","slug":"what-happens-if-he-falls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/425940\/","title":{"rendered":"What Happens if He Falls?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tLater today (well, tomorrow in Taiwan), \u201cFree Solo\u201d climber Alex Honnold<\/a> will start his ascent on the 1,677-foot Taipei 101<\/a> skyscraper \u2014 without ropes \u2014 by carefully making his way up the tower\u2019s slab base. But that\u2019s the easy part. From there, he\u2019ll get on the building\u2019s middle section, designed like eight-story \u201cbamboo boxes,\u201d which will require steep climbing over these overhanging sections.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the corner of those boxes are dragon figures, which Honnold will mount to get to the next level. It\u2019s the most visually dramatic way to ascend, but he\u2019ll be completely exposed, with the drop right below him. Then there\u2019s the top part of Taipei 101, which has overhanging sections where Honnold\u2019s legs will be dangling, and he has to use his upper body strength to scale up.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s this massive steel ring section, which we call the crown of Taipei 101, where he\u2019s saying he might bat hang,\u201d says James Smith, the head of adventure at Plimsoll Prods. Ltd. \u201cYou kind of put your knee into a hole, and then you can lean backwards and just rest and stretch your arms and things get the blood going.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNervous yet? If not, just wait until Honnold gets to the small, four-foot platform at the top of Taipei 101. \u201cFor a climber, you want to summit properly,\u201d Smith says. \u201cYou want to be\u00a0the highest human for miles around.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tYikes. So much could go wrong \u2014 or hopefully, right \u2014 and obviously Netflix<\/a> and Plimsoll execs are counting on the latter as \u201cSkyscraper Live<\/a>\u201d kicks off at 8 p.m. ET on Friday night (that\u2019s 9 a.m. Saturday in Taipei). \u201cThere is a massive focus on how do you guarantee that this is entertaining, but obviously the other element is safety,\u201d says Plimsoll Prods. CEO Grant Mansfield. \u201cI have chaired as many safety meetings as I have creative meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe January date for the climb was chosen because it\u2019s dry season in Taiwan right now \u2014 although rain is still possible, and the forecast right now calls for a 30% chance of moisture the morning Honnold starts his climb.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOur main contingency planning is we can delay the broadcast by maybe an hour, maybe slightly longer,\u201d Smith says. \u201cIf there\u2019s been a light shower and the building\u2019s drying off, the temperature here is pretty good, \u00a0there\u2019s often a light breeze, so the building will dry relatively quickly. If it is deemed too wet, if there\u2019s too much moisture on the building, we will probably delay to the next day, which would be a Saturday night transmission in the U.S. We could even delay another day if we needed to. Obviously Alex has to be 100% comfortable and happy in himself and in the conditions. And then our safety team likewise have to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNetflix unscripted series VP Jeff Gaspin compares the live telecast window to \u201claunching a space shuttle. We\u2019ll be on site for a few days after if, for some reason he doesn\u2019t go on that day,\u201d he says. \u201cBut after that, it\u2019s probably a bigger reschedule. There\u2019s only certain times of year you can actually climb the tower because it\u2019s rainy season between April and September.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tViewers of 2019\u2019s Oscar-winning Nat Geo doc \u201cFree Solo\u201d saw Honnold call off his landmark climb up El Capitan at first when he didn\u2019t feel ready; similarly, Smith, Mansfield and Gaspin\u2019s teams have reiterated to the athlete that there\u2019s no shame in postponing if he\u2019s not up to it.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s a two-tick system,\u201d Mansfield says. \u201cFirst and foremost, he has to feel good about it. And we\u2019ve said to him repeatedly, if you\u2019re not feeling it, despite the fact it\u2019s a live broadcast, and there\u2019s a bunch of TV people hanging around, you are under no pressure to do this climb. And the second tick is, if we get in a situation where he\u2019s saying, \u2018Yeah, I\u2019m going for it,\u2019 but there are things that bothering us, we have the right to say \u2018no.\u2019 He won\u2019t be on that building unless we\u2019re all comfortable. But there\u2019s been a huge amount of planning for this. He said he\u2019s the fittest he\u2019s ever been. He\u2019s really been training for this. We\u2019re feeling good about it at this stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJoe DeMaio is the director behind \u201cSkyscraper Live,\u201d while Al Berman is showrunner and executive producer. Mansfield also credits risk management firm Secret Compass for being a big part of Plimsoll\u2019s gameplan in mitigating any potential problems. \u201cThey are acknowledged experts in this field,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEvery scenario has been mapped out, as you might expect,\u201d Mansfield adds. \u201cThe main focus has been on keeping Alex safe. This is a building he knows very well. It\u2019s a building which is very well suited for climbing. If at any point he decides that he\u2019s too tired when he\u2019s on the building, we can get him off there as well. But Alex really knows what he\u2019s doing. He\u2019s an extraordinary kind of athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShould the unthinkable happen, yes, Netflix has planned for the worst-case scenario. \u201cIt\u2019s obviously a conversation that everybody has,\u201d Gaspin says. \u201cYou can imagine\u00a0 what we\u2019ll do. It\u2019s nothing momentous. We\u2019ll cut away. We have a 10-second delay. Nobody expects or wants to see anything like that to happen. But we will cut away, and it\u2019s as simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOf course, no one is expecting that. Given the complexities of some of his past free solo climbs, observers say they believe Taipei 101 will be a piece of cake for Honnold.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think the main thing is, we trust Alex,\u201d Mansfield says. \u201cAs he says in a number of his packages, he doesn\u2019t have some kind of a death wish. He is an incredibly talented climber and an elite sports person. It would be an insult to say he takes mad risks. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s ever denied that he\u00a0feels fear, but he\u2019s found a way of processing it and managing it. The comfort I will take in that control room is that I know we\u2019ve got the show very well-planned. And if he gets on that building to climb it, Alex will be completely confident he can do the climb. And if he\u2019s completely confident, we\u2019re completely confident.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe live event is the culmination of something Honnold has been aiming to do for years; as a matter of fact, he announced a similar live televised climb on the Taipei 101 in 2013, until Nat Geo, uneasy about the safety of it, pulled the plug.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut in recent years, Plimsoll \u2014 a part of ITV Studios \u2014 has developed a tight relationship with Honnold, having worked with him on series such as \u201cThe Devil\u2019s Climb\u201d and \u201cArctic Ascent With Alex Honnold,\u201d both for Disney+ and National Geographic. Plimsoll has also been big in the live space, with shows such as \u201cEarth Live\u201d and \u201cYellowstone Live,\u201d both for Nat Geo. So when Honnold told Smith that he was still itching to follow through on his Taipei 101 dream, the Plimsoll folks got to work.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was just the right idea at the right time,\u201d Mansfield says. \u201cThe trick is if you\u2019re not televising live sports events, you have to create something of significant scale. So a man climbing a very tall building without a rope is a pretty compelling proposition, right? When it\u2019s probably the greatest climber who\u2019s ever lived and a guy that we formed a really close relationship with the last four years, all the stars were aligned.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKnowing how fixated Honnold was on Taipei 101, Smith knew it had to be that skyscraper. Plus, the more he researched the tower, the more he knew it was perfect for an event like this. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like it was built to be free solo climbed,\u2019 he says. \u201cIt\u2019s got fantastic architecture. It\u2019s got lots of intricacy. Some skyscrapers are quite uniform and rather boring. But this has got twists and turns and little challenges almost at every level. As Alex says himself, it\u2019s a world class climbing objective, and just deserves to be climbed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSecuring Taipei 101 for the special wasn\u2019t easy, however.\u00a0 \u201cTaipei 101 was always the number one choice, but started to look for other buildings around the world just in case this one didn\u2019t come through. It took a while before I could get in the room and really try and convince them that this was a great idea,\u201d Smith says.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, at Netflix, even before Honnold and Plimsoll pitched the idea of \u201cSkyscraper Live,\u201d the streamer was looking for a live stunt event akin to classic TV moments like 1974\u2019s attempt by Evel Knievel to ride his motorcycle across the Snake River Canyon.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAll those things sound horrific and scary, but they\u2019re experts, and that\u2019s their livelihood,\u201d Gaspin says. \u201cWe heard a bunch of different pitches, and then Alex\u2019s came in. I was a fan of the \u2018Free Solo\u2019 movie, and the idea that he\u2019s going to climb this building was both terrifying to me, but was thrilling. When we were choosing between some of the ideas that had come through, this one really stood out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOf course, it had to be live \u2014 a field Netflix has tried to corner over the past few years with the WWE, Christmas Day NFL, boxing events, the Tom Brady roast and now, even, the reboot of \u201cStar Search.\u201d \u201cIf you don\u2019t do it live, then it\u2019s really just a clip on the news,\u201d Gaspin says. \u201cThat\u2019s not something that you need Netflix for. Part of why you want to go live is there\u2019s some danger involved. It just makes it a more compelling viewing experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLive TV is such a priority for Netflix that the streamer hired ESPN\u2019s Elle Duncan as its first sports anchor. Her first gig will be hosting \u201cSkyscraper Live,\u201d \u201ctrying to entertain people at the same time that we\u2019re watching someone do something that could kill him,\u201d she recently told Variety.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s also a logistical feat for the producers, who say Taipei 101 lends itself well to the production since the structure\u2019s features \u2014 like those dragons \u2014 make for good camera angles. For the special\u2019s four main camera operators, it\u2019s also going to be a marathon: As they film Honnold, once he climbs past them, the camera crew will sprint to the elevator and get above him again to resume shooting. \u201cThey\u2019re going to leapfrog each other,\u201d Smith says. \u201cThat looks great on paper, our next challenge is to see whether it works in practice.\u201d The producers are also relying on remote cameras, drones and a helicopter with a stabilized camera for the higher section.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI do love the process of live television,\u201d Smith says. \u201cI love the meticulous planning that all comes down to that one moment. It\u2019s more akin to kind of putting on a play or a live concert. I love the fact that you have to spend months and months,\u00a0 really getting into the detail, thinking through all these different scenarios. But then when you\u2019re on air, it\u2019s all about being in the moment and being reactive and making decisions very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, for Netflix viewers who can\u2019t catch \u201cSkyscraper Live,\u201d the streamer has asked Plimsoll to quickly put together a shorter, cut-down version of the broadcast featuring highlights. And actually, that shorter post-game version of \u201cSkyscraper Live\u201d might come handy for Gaspin himself, as he admits that he\u2019s a bit spooked by the stunt.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI have a little bit of vertigo, so just hearing the idea terrified me,\u201d he says. \u201cI will be truly honest: I\u2019m not sure how much of it I can watch. Not that many things make me anxious, but that that truly does make me anxious!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Later today (well, tomorrow in Taiwan), \u201cFree Solo\u201d climber Alex Honnold will start his ascent on the 1,677-foot…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[201528,88,217,192030,202660],"class_list":["post-425940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-alex-honnold","tag-entertainment","tag-netflix","tag-plimsoll-productions","tag-skyscraper-live"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}