{"id":430663,"date":"2026-01-26T10:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T10:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/430663\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T10:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T10:44:09","slug":"u-s-climber-scales-taiwans-tallest-building-taipei-101-without-ropes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/430663\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. climber scales Taiwan\u2019s tallest building Taipei 101 without ropes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ANN<\/p>\n

ANN WANG \/ REUTERS<\/p>\n

Climber Alex Honnold takes a break while free soloing Taipei 101 Skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan, January 25, 2026.<\/p>\n

TAIPEI >> U.S. climber Alex Honnold scaled the Taipei 101 skyscraper without ropes or safety netting on Sunday, watched by thousands of cheering and waving fans as he clambered up one of the world\u2019s tallest buildings.<\/p>\n

\u201cSick,\u201d Honnold said as he got to the top spire of Taiwan\u2019s tallest building after his 91-minute \u201cfree solo\u201d ascent, which was organised and broadcast live by Netflix.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a beautiful way to see Taipei,\u201d he told reporters after his mission, which was postponed by a day due to wet weather.<\/p>\n

The 508-metre (1,667-foot) Taipei 101, which dominates the city\u2019s skyline and is a major tourist attraction, was the tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2010, a crown currently held by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.<\/p>\n

The climb, with no safety equipment, took place with the full support and permission of Taipei 101 and the city government.<\/p>\n

Honnold said he had once thought of climbing the structure without permission.<\/p>\n

Don’t miss out on what’s happening!<\/p>\n

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\u201cBut then out of respect for the building and respect for all the people on the team who\u2019d allowed me access to look at it, I was like, well obviously I\u2019m not going to poach this, I\u2019m going to respect the people and just see if it ever comes together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Executive Producer James Smith said it was rare for a building to trust a climber and allow such an event to take place, calling Taipei 101 \u201ca real icon of this country\u201d.<\/p>\n

Taiwanese politicians took to social media to thank Honnold and Netflix for putting Taiwan \u2013 more accustomed to featuring in global headlines for its semiconductor prowess or Chinese military threats \u2013 in the international spotlight with such a different perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongratulations to the brave, fearless Alex for completing the challenge,\u201d President Lai Ching-te wrote on his Facebook page.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough Netflix\u2019s live broadcast cameras, the world didn\u2019t just see Taipei 101 \u2013 it also saw the warmth and passion of the Taiwanese people, and the beautiful hills and scenery of this land,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time Taipei 101 has been scaled.<\/p>\n

In 2004, French climber Alain Robert, dubbed \u201cSpiderman\u201d for his ropeless ascents of some of the world\u2019s highest skyscrapers, climbed the building, though did so with a safety rope in a time of four hours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANN WANG \/ REUTERS Climber Alex Honnold takes a break while free soloing Taipei 101 Skyscraper in Taipei,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88,965],"class_list":["post-430663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430663","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=430663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}