We had the privilege to watch at first from the SE corner of the building and later as he climbed by the the observation deck on the 89th floor. Hair raising stuff I'll never forget.
In his El Capitan climb (Free Solo), Alex was worried about cameras or presence of friends watching interfering with the climb. As oppose to that, this climb must have felt very different!
I wondered the same because there was a helicopter the entire time. Also the very tip top of Taipei 101 appeared to have many cameras mounted on it, at least through binoculars.
We watched the livestream together, such a stressful watch, glad he made it up there. As my partner and both do bouldering, it definitely gives another level of appreciation of just how insane this is. (I still get stressed at times when I'm just 2-3m up in the air lol).
I thought he had freakishly large hands before, but that picture of him on the top with his hands in the air makes him look like the lawyer uncle from Always Sunny. He's built for free solo.
One of the most incredible feats of strength and daring I've ever witnessed. The only thing at all comparable was watching Baumgartner freefall back to earth from the edge of space. Unbelievable!
Yeah that was a great moment when that happened! I remember watching that, and then a couple weeks (?) later were the Snowden docs? That was quite a year, iirc.
He's spoken about it extensively in interviews. Watch his El Capitan movie or recent interviews before this climb.
He just finds it very peaceful and thrilling. "Just him and the climb" kind of language.
Also I suppose clout has to be involved: only person to free solo El Capitan, as far as I know the only person to climb Taipei 101 let alone free solo (did the spiderman guy ever make it or was he arrested?)
I guess watching the film ('free solo' is the one you mention) is the lowest effort way of getting his perspective and I recommend the film.
For a deeper dive, the book "Alone on the wall" is a good read and I recommend it. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36531127-alone-on-the-wa..., although that said the book might be less appealing to someone who 'knows nothing about climbing' and is more of a time investment than the short documentary :)
This was far more thrilling and exciting to watch than I thought it would be. Which feels wrong when I say it, but I don't mean it was a good watch because of the consequences of failing. Rather because it was amazing watching a human perform at such a peak level.
I and some friends observed his climb from the base of Taipei 101. Thousands of people were present and it was very good fun how the crowd would react when he made it to another ledge, and when he made it to the top people were shouting and cheering. It was like a great big party.
I imagine Threads and Instagram just got hit with like ten thousand vertical video clips of the climb if you're interested in seeing for yourself.
For me it was almost scary how abruptly he started and made it up the first ledge. Dude just fuckin went for it. Made me realize, for the first time, how truly incredible the feat was to be.
The observation deck level is often so windy I worry about losing my phone if I take it out. I can't comprehend how he managed that wind while hanging on by his fingertips. Then he stood at the tippy top for quite some time, which must be unbelievably windy. At some point he was tethered in for the rapelle down though so maybe he clipped in right as he got to the top.
In other tower climbing events, some things cannot be free climbed (too smooth, fingers aren't made for window cleaning tracks, etc).
The 1988 ascent of the Sydney Centrepoint was a technical climb with custom jumars for both the cables and the window tracks and a fun challenge for all, both the scouting, the climb, and the filming.
Originally titled The Only Building I Ever Wanted To Climb, later released as A Spire, there's a documentary film that follows a climb at night of "only" 1,000 feet.
Netflix has a stream with close-up cameras, as they were the ones who arranged the whole thing. Unfortunately the commentary and color grading are both terrible: https://www.netflix.com/watch/81987107
I'm not saying money wasn't a factor in his decision to do this for a livestream, but it clearly wouldn't be the only factor and I doubt that would make him stop. (He free solo'd before, without cameras, although not this building).
For people like Alex, it's much more about the thrill, the experience, and 'proving' themselves than it is about money.
Stuff like this seems a bit... selfish? to me. Why risk falling, and people having to see that/having to clean that up? For a bit of adrenaline and publicity? Meh.
The Taipei tourism bureau disagrees. Many here as well. The more eyes on Taiwan, the better. I'm grateful Alex was willing to risk his life for this spectacle, now potentially millions will have at least some concept of Taipei and Taiwan in their minds.
That a government would be willing to risk this for publicity isn't really changing my mind.
"Come to Taiwan; you may or may not watch someone plummet to their death while here" doesn't appeal to me, personally anyway. Anyway that guy that did it with safety equipment a few years back made the rounds in the news too, so not sure this was necessary in that regard.
Very impressive feat, no doubt about it. But the commentary on the Netflix broadcast ruined the spectator experience completely. It was utterly unbearable.
With the Netflix infrastructure, I'm surprised they broadcast it so conventionally. Different channels running at the same time (with the crowd at the bottom, with the crowds as he passed each floor, with his wife watching, with pro climbers talking technical climbing stuff with simultaneous 8K online illustrating graphics, etc.), different audio tracks (with commentators, with crowd at bottom only, etc.*). Alex Honnold was paid only $500K for the event, so maybe there simply wasn't a lot of money allocated to the project to get fancy with the live broadcast.
People often confuse severe consequences (a fall = death) with high probability. Alex, like most climbers, reduce that probability to near zero through obsessive prep.
The travel to/from Taiwan was statistically riskier than the climb.
It's not 25% per climb, but it's not near zero either, especially in aggregate. It only takes one mistake. A fairly high percentage of famous free soloists (I'd say over 25%) have died prematurely, either while free soloing, or during other extreme sports.
We had the privilege to watch at first from the SE corner of the building and later as he climbed by the the observation deck on the 89th floor. Hair raising stuff I'll never forget.
I, on the other hand, had the privilege not to watch this. I don't know how one can without feeling sick to the stomach.
Wow that's awesome! You saw him climb past your windows! Must be a Googler
In his El Capitan climb (Free Solo), Alex was worried about cameras or presence of friends watching interfering with the climb. As oppose to that, this climb must have felt very different!
I'm wondering if this is because El Capitan is a much more technically difficult climb and thus posing much more risk than Taipei 101.
He was able to practice El Capitan over and over, though. Was he able to in Tapei?
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I wondered the same because there was a helicopter the entire time. Also the very tip top of Taipei 101 appeared to have many cameras mounted on it, at least through binoculars.
We watched the livestream together, such a stressful watch, glad he made it up there. As my partner and both do bouldering, it definitely gives another level of appreciation of just how insane this is. (I still get stressed at times when I'm just 2-3m up in the air lol).
I thought he had freakishly large hands before, but that picture of him on the top with his hands in the air makes him look like the lawyer uncle from Always Sunny. He's built for free solo.
You need to be specific! There are 2 lawyers with completely opposite hand sizes.
The one educated in bird law.
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One of the most incredible feats of strength and daring I've ever witnessed. The only thing at all comparable was watching Baumgartner freefall back to earth from the edge of space. Unbelievable!
Yeah that was a great moment when that happened! I remember watching that, and then a couple weeks (?) later were the Snowden docs? That was quite a year, iirc.
Also for daring: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Petit
I know nothing about climbing. beyond the straight flex of "I could die if I make a mistake", is there a point to doing this without safety equipment?
He's spoken about it extensively in interviews. Watch his El Capitan movie or recent interviews before this climb.
He just finds it very peaceful and thrilling. "Just him and the climb" kind of language.
Also I suppose clout has to be involved: only person to free solo El Capitan, as far as I know the only person to climb Taipei 101 let alone free solo (did the spiderman guy ever make it or was he arrested?)
I guess watching the film ('free solo' is the one you mention) is the lowest effort way of getting his perspective and I recommend the film.
For a deeper dive, the book "Alone on the wall" is a good read and I recommend it. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36531127-alone-on-the-wa..., although that said the book might be less appealing to someone who 'knows nothing about climbing' and is more of a time investment than the short documentary :)
I believe it's also documented that he has an underdeveloped amygdala, so he literally doesn't experience fear in the same way most people do.
Second person to climb it (Spidey got there first), but only one to free solo it.
This was far more thrilling and exciting to watch than I thought it would be. Which feels wrong when I say it, but I don't mean it was a good watch because of the consequences of failing. Rather because it was amazing watching a human perform at such a peak level.
I and some friends observed his climb from the base of Taipei 101. Thousands of people were present and it was very good fun how the crowd would react when he made it to another ledge, and when he made it to the top people were shouting and cheering. It was like a great big party.
I imagine Threads and Instagram just got hit with like ten thousand vertical video clips of the climb if you're interested in seeing for yourself.
For me it was almost scary how abruptly he started and made it up the first ledge. Dude just fuckin went for it. Made me realize, for the first time, how truly incredible the feat was to be.
The observation deck level is often so windy I worry about losing my phone if I take it out. I can't comprehend how he managed that wind while hanging on by his fingertips. Then he stood at the tippy top for quite some time, which must be unbelievably windy. At some point he was tethered in for the rapelle down though so maybe he clipped in right as he got to the top.
He was not clipped in while standing at the top. That part actually made me the most nervous because you could see the wind blowing him around
Ah I haven't watched the videos yet, just what I could see through binoculars. When did he clip in to rapelle down? Immediately before doing so?
I wonder what he was thinking about up there.
In other tower climbing events, some things cannot be free climbed (too smooth, fingers aren't made for window cleaning tracks, etc).
The 1988 ascent of the Sydney Centrepoint was a technical climb with custom jumars for both the cables and the window tracks and a fun challenge for all, both the scouting, the climb, and the filming.
Originally titled The Only Building I Ever Wanted To Climb, later released as A Spire, there's a documentary film that follows a climb at night of "only" 1,000 feet.
... with a massive overhang.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Tower
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qch1Gd8VLK0
Great feat of strength, determination and athleticism! I also hope Netflix stays as far away from this as possible.
Does anyone have a link to good video footage of the climb?
Netflix has a stream with close-up cameras, as they were the ones who arranged the whole thing. Unfortunately the commentary and color grading are both terrible: https://www.netflix.com/watch/81987107
A YouTube search pulls up a stream filmed from the ground (a nearby building?) using a zoom lens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vzthkg2ti2Q
So what? Alex dove fodder then oxthxby then.
watching in Live on Netflix was riveting
This is a very irresponsible thing to do when you have children.
Yeah I hope he made enough money to stop.
I'm not saying money wasn't a factor in his decision to do this for a livestream, but it clearly wouldn't be the only factor and I doubt that would make him stop. (He free solo'd before, without cameras, although not this building).
For people like Alex, it's much more about the thrill, the experience, and 'proving' themselves than it is about money.
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I think NYT said their sources claim he was paid mid 6-figures? Which is really shitty of Netflix. If I were him I would've asked for at least $5M.
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Stuff like this seems a bit... selfish? to me. Why risk falling, and people having to see that/having to clean that up? For a bit of adrenaline and publicity? Meh.
The Taipei tourism bureau disagrees. Many here as well. The more eyes on Taiwan, the better. I'm grateful Alex was willing to risk his life for this spectacle, now potentially millions will have at least some concept of Taipei and Taiwan in their minds.
Did he do this climb with no safety equipment for Taiwan or for Alex?
I'm with the OP - watching people so willfully put their lives in danger isn't my cup of tea. I'm just glad he didn't die.
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That a government would be willing to risk this for publicity isn't really changing my mind.
"Come to Taiwan; you may or may not watch someone plummet to their death while here" doesn't appeal to me, personally anyway. Anyway that guy that did it with safety equipment a few years back made the rounds in the news too, so not sure this was necessary in that regard.
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Very impressive feat, no doubt about it. But the commentary on the Netflix broadcast ruined the spectator experience completely. It was utterly unbearable.
The Taiwanese live feed news channels on YouTube were great. Little to no commentary and you could hear the crowd engagement.
I thought the same thing. Half the time I wished they would just keep quiet.
Then again, there's always Mute. Turn up your favorite music/sound or just silence. Could be good
Honestly surprised that there was no audio option to disable the commentators.
With the Netflix infrastructure, I'm surprised they broadcast it so conventionally. Different channels running at the same time (with the crowd at the bottom, with the crowds as he passed each floor, with his wife watching, with pro climbers talking technical climbing stuff with simultaneous 8K online illustrating graphics, etc.), different audio tracks (with commentators, with crowd at bottom only, etc.*). Alex Honnold was paid only $500K for the event, so maybe there simply wasn't a lot of money allocated to the project to get fancy with the live broadcast.
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There is probably a 25+ percent chance this guy dies in a climbing accident and then his children grow up without a father. Selfish.
People often confuse severe consequences (a fall = death) with high probability. Alex, like most climbers, reduce that probability to near zero through obsessive prep.
The travel to/from Taiwan was statistically riskier than the climb.
Selfish? Not even close.
It's not 25% per climb, but it's not near zero either, especially in aggregate. It only takes one mistake. A fairly high percentage of famous free soloists (I'd say over 25%) have died prematurely, either while free soloing, or during other extreme sports.
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