Why the Hardest Part of Alex Honnold’s Live Taipei 101 Climb Isn’t One Dangerous Move

Editor’s Note: Skyscraper Live was originally scheduled to air on January 23. Due to weather conditions, the live event is postponed, and will now stream on Saturday, January 24 at 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT.

When Alex Honnold steps onto the side of Taipei 101, he won’t just be climbing one of the tallest buildings in the world — he’ll be doing it live, with a global audience watching on Netflix.

And while the idea sounds terrifying, Honnold says the hardest part of the climb isn’t a single dangerous move. It’s what builds slowly, floor by floor.

Unlike the jagged unpredictability of Yosemite’s El Capitan — famously documented in the Oscar-winning Free Solo — Taipei 101 presents a different kind of challenge — an architectural feature Honnold calls “bamboo boxers,” whose overhangs will complicate the climb. The boxes are eight distinctive, stacked, pagodalike modules designed to mimic bamboo stalks.

“Each one is eight floors,” Honnold tells Tudum. “There’s a balcony every eight floors, so in a lot of ways it feels like a climbing pitch, which is the way most climbers differentiate [the] segments of a climb. This means hard effort for almost 100 feet, then there’s a balcony. Hard effort for almost 100 feet, then [another] balcony. In a lot of ways, that’s what rock climbing feels like. Climb for a certain rope length, then stop.”

Despite the physical demands of the bamboo boxes, Honnold says there’s not one high-risk moment he’s looking out for. Instead, he believes endurance is the key to handling all aspects of the upward trek.

“One of the big differences between climbing a building and rock climbing is that there really isn’t a hardest single move,” says Honnold. “In some ways, it’s less intimidating than the big free solos [on rocks] that I’ve done. The challenge comes from the overall physicality of it. The fatigue that [sets in] over the course of the building is slightly harder to anticipate. I don’t know how it’s gonna feel.”

Honnold says his motivation to ascend Taipei 101 comes from a long-standing curiosity about “what it would feel like to climb a building this big.” Drawn to the idea of tackling something made by humans, he points to a key difference he’s already anticipating. “Buildings are steeper than rock faces. Most rock faces aren’t actually vertical. Or, they’re not vertical the whole way, [like] the building is.”

Many people might be terrified of trying to climb a building, but Honnold calls this new endeavor “cool” and “exciting.” And when the ascent unfolds live, he encourages viewers to focus on what’s behind it — not just what’s happening onscreen.

“Viewers should appreciate the effort, practice, and training that goes into it. It’s not just willy-nilly. … There’s a plan, and I’m executing [it].”

Brace yourselves: Skyscraper Live promises to showcase as much sheer nerve as it does endurance and precision.