Alex Honnold to Free Solo Taipei 101 on Netflix

Professional climber Alex Honnold is set to attempt a ropeless ascent of Taipei 101, Taiwan's tallest skyscraper, on Saturday morning local time, marking what he describes as the largest urban free solo climb ever. The 1,667-foot structure, with its 101 stories of steel and glass, will be scaled without protective gear in an event broadcast live on Netflix, drawing global attention to the high-stakes endeavor.

Honnold, renowned for his 2017 free solo of Yosemite's El Capitan featured in the Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo, has pursued this goal for over a decade. The climb begins at 9 a.m. in Taipei, corresponding to 8 p.m. ET Friday in the United States, and is expected to last about two hours. He has trained extensively over the past three months, conducting rope-assisted practice runs on the building with permission from city officials, even amid light drizzle and nearby ambulance activity. The skyscraper's bamboo-inspired design, with stacked segments and balconies every eight floors, offers periodic rest points, turning the ascent into an endurance test rather than a series of technically demanding moves. "You walk up to the base, you hop on to the building, you climb...