Alex Honnold climbing in Taipei, Taiwan, for “Skyscraper Live.”
NETFLIX
Alex Honnold said he needed to know if scaling the Taipei 101 was even possible before he did Netflix’s Skyscraper Live special, so he turned to a more traditional way of climbing to find out.
Honnold, of course, successfully completed a free solo climb of the 1,667-foot structure on Netflix’s Skyscraper Live in just over 1 hour, 30 minutes without the aid of ropes or safety nets on Saturday night, which was Sunday morning in Taipei, Taiwan.
The prolific climber rigorously trained for the event, which marked the first time he climbed a skyscraper after 30 years of climbing rock faces. Part of his prep work even included a test climb of the building with the use of ropes before he committed to Skyscraper Live to assess whether he could actually complete the monumental task at hand.
Honnold told Variety in an interview after Saturday’s climb that he came to scout the Taipei 101 in September of 2025 while Netflix was shooting some promotional material for the Skyscraper Live special.
“On the scout, I climbed it from bottom to the top with the rope once, just to make sure that it was possible, Honnold told Variety. “Because I was kind of like, ‘Before we all commit to this TV project, I better make sure that it’s possible.’ Then on this trip, I did it from bottom to top once again.”
Alex Honnold Learned On His Scouting Trip That Rain Made It Impossible To Climb The Taipei 101
Netflix, of course, had to postpone Skyscraper Live on Friday for 24 hours because of rain.
Alex Honnold told Variety that he learned of the impossibilities of climbing the structure in the rain during his test climbs of the Taipei 101.
“I did various sections here and there, depending on conditions. One day it was raining, and I did a couple boxes — but basically determined that I couldn’t climb it at all in the rain,” Honnold told Variety. “I don’t wanna say impossible, but it was basically impossible. It was so slippery. Not surprising, it’s metal and glass, and in the rain, it was so slick.”
As such, Honnold added that he ruled out any climb where rain was present.
“Before I’d come here, I was kind of like, if it rains, maybe it’s still possible, just a little harder,” Honnold told Variety. “And then I tried it with a rope in the rain, it was like, no, that’s completely impossible. But that was good to know, because then yesterday, when it was raining, it was no, full stop.”
An edited version of Skyscraper Live is streaming on Netflix. In addition, Free Solo — the 2018 Oscar-winning documentary featuring Honnold’s 3,000-foot free solo climb of the El Capitan summit in the Yosemite National Park in California — is streaming on Netflix and Disney+.