Alex Honnold reveals ‘scariest thing’ about his historic Taipei 101 climb

Alex Honnold successfully completed his historic climb of Taipei 101, and now he’s telling the tale.

The American rock climber, 40, made history Saturday when he became the first person to free solo the 1,667-foot skyscraper, located in Taiwan’s capital. Netflix’s livestream of Honnold’s feat, Skyscraper Live, was watched by millions globally.

Speaking to Variety following his death-defying ascent, Honnold revealed the “scariest thing” about his journey to the top was scaling the metal dragon-like ornaments on the corners of the building.

“I mean, they’re really fun, they’re really cool. It’s an incredible sequence, cool position,” he said. “But every time I set up on the dragon, I’d be like, ‘This is kind of crazy.’ You’re like, out over the abyss. It’s cool.”

When the interviewer suggested that he could’ve climbed around the dragons, Honnold replied: “You can wedge yourself in behind the dragon and squirm up the back of it. But that’s actually not as easy as it seems like it would be.

“Because the inside of the dragon is actually like a smooth sheet of metal. So, yeah, you can climb it, but it looks very undignified. It’s full-body strenuous, and it’s not that much easier,” he added. “And so, actually, the dragon is kind of the better way. If you’re climbing with a rope, you for sure always do the dragon, because it’s more fun, it’s joyous. It’s just slightly scarier because the position is so exposed.”

Built in 2004, Taipei 101 features mostly glass curtain walls, with balconies near the top that taper to a pointed peak. It was once considered the world’s tallest skyscraper before Dubai’s Burj Khalifa took the title in 2010. Taipei 101 now stands as the 11th-tallest building in the world.

Honnold’s event was originally scheduled to stream live Friday night, but was delayed by 24 hours due to rain. While conditions in Taipei were dry enough for him to complete the challenge the next day, he still faced significant wind during the last stage of his climb.

“The top of the building rips wind and then, just by coincidence, the wind direction happened to be hammering the corner that I was climbing. Other aspects of the building would have been more sheltered,” he explained.

“But then, when I climbed the corner itself, I would just be getting hammered. I was like, ‘Ah!’ And then the same when stepping onto the dragons. When I was on the left face of the dragon, I would be sheltered from the wind. But if I reached my hand around the dragon, it would basically be like, ‘Wow, it’s so windy!’ I definitely noticed the wind.”

Honnold completed his trek in 91 minutes. Once he reached the top, he exclaimed: “Sick. I’m so psyched!” before snapping a selfie.