Alain Robert shared hard-earned insight as Alex Honnold prepares to free solo Taipei 101.
Alex Honnold gets advice from the legendary ‘French Spider-Man’ ahead of Netflix free solo attempt originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
As Alex Honnold gets ready for his now delayed, live, rope-less climb of Taipei 101 on Netflix, he reached out to someone who understands the building and the consequences in a way almost no one else does: Alain Robert, the legendary “French Spider-Man.”
Their conversation took place on Honnold’s podcast Climbing Gold, and it unfolded more like two climbers swapping hard earned lessons than a formal interview. Robert has climbed many of the world’s most famous skyscrapers, often illegally, and he estimates he has been arrested more than 170 times along the way. Being detained halfway up buildings, pulled off ledges by police, and spending nights in jail became part of the cost of doing what he loved.
That experience shaped the advice he gave Honnold. Robert climbed Taipei 101, in Taiwan, during its opening in 2004, and he made it clear that the challenge is not about how hard any single move is. It is about managing the length of the climb. “The good thing,” Robert told him, “is after every block you can have a good rest…and then you continue the ascent.” Those horizontal sections, he explained, are where you calm down, reset, and keep fatigue from taking over.
Robert admitted he misjudged the effort himself. He expected the climb to take two hours. “It took me four,” he said. On a building that tall, tiredness becomes the real danger, especially when the view below never lets you forget the scale.
Weather was his strongest warning. Rain nearly ruined his own ascent. “Windows and aluminum, that just doesn’t work with rain,” Robert said. “That’s what makes it impossible.” With a live broadcast, patience matters even more.
He also pushed back on the idea that a crowd adds pressure. “Nobody wants you to fall,” he told Honnold. “They will push you. They will encourage you.” In Robert’s experience, that energy often helps more than it hurts.
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When the conversation turned to the final upper section of the building, Robert was practical. He understood why Honnold plans to use a ladder to finish. “Maybe at the end of the day that’s the easiest way,” he said.
More than anything, Robert wanted Honnold to enjoy it and not think about falling. “First of all,” he said, “you’re going to have a lot of fun.”
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For Honnold, hearing that from a man who has been arrested hundreds of times and kept climbing anyway was not a warning. It was reassurance that patience, rhythm, and commitment remain the most reliable tools when everything is on the line, where a single slip or fall leaves no room for recovery.
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Category: General Sports
