American climber Alex Honnold has successfully scaled a Taiwan skyscraper without a rope, harness or safety equipment.
The building, named Taipei 101 for the number of its floors, stands at 508m (1,667ft) of steel, glass and concrete and is designed to resemble a stick of bamboo.
Honnold is renowned for being the first person to climb El Capitan, the vertical granite cliff in California’s Yosemite national park - also without ropes or safety gear.
The climb was originally set to take place on Saturday but was delayed by wet weather.
His ascent in Taiwan’s capital was streamed live on Netflix, which said there would be a delay on the live feed should the worst happen.
Honnold completed the climb in one hour and 31 minutes and celebrated the achievement with one word: “Sick.”
His time more than halves the record of the only other person to scale the tower.
Alain Robert, a Frenchman who called himself “Spiderman”, made it to the top of Taipei 101 - at the time the world’s tallest building - in four hours. He did so with ropes and a harness.
Taiwan’s Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim congratulated Honnold on the ascent, writing on X: “I admit I would probably feel sick, too, barely able to watch.”
Honnold was greeted at the top of the building by his wife, who expressed concern for the wind and heat as he climbed.
But there was another distraction during his ascent.
As Honnold reached the 89th floor, fans cheered and waved, face to face but for the window with the man clinging to the building.
Video of the moment was shared by Honnold and Netflix on Instagram, showing the climber continuing undeterred.
Honnold has made many extreme climbs during his career. A documentary about his ascent of the 3,000 foot (915m) El Capitan, titled Free Solo, won an Academy Award.
Source: BBC
--Agencies
