Alex Honnald Received "Shockingly Low" Pay For "Free Solo Climbing" One Of The Tallest Skyscrapers In The World With No Safety Gear | WLT Report Skip to main content
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Alex Honnald Received “Shockingly Low” Pay For “Free Solo Climbing” One Of The Tallest Skyscrapers In The World With No Safety Gear

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Meet Alex Honnald.

Alex is one of the most famous “climbers” in the world and he just took on one of his biggest challenges of his career: Free Solo Climbing the Taipei 101 tower, which stands at 1,667.

Here are some quick stats on the tower:

Taipei 101

Taipei 101 is one of the most iconic skyscrapers in the world, located in Taipei, Taiwan. It stands at a height of 508 meters (1,667 feet) to its architectural top (including the spire).

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Key Statistics and Facts

  • Architectural height: 508.2 m (1,667 ft) to the tip of the spire

  • Tip height: Approximately 509.2 m (1,671 ft) in some measurements

  • Roof height: 449.2 m (1,474 ft)

  • Highest occupied floor: 438 m (1,437 ft)

  • Number of floors: 101 above ground + 5 basement levels

  • Floor area: 412,500 m² (about 4,440,100 sq ft)

  • Completion/Open: Officially opened on December 31, 2004 (tower completed in 2004)

  • Architect: C.Y. Lee & Partners

  • Location: Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan

Engineering and Design

It was the world’s tallest building from 2004 to 2010 (until surpassed by the Burj Khalifa) and remains the tallest in Taiwan. It’s designed to withstand strong typhoons (winds up to 216 km/h) and major earthquakes, featuring advanced engineering like outrigger trusses and a massive tuned mass damper.

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One of its most famous features is the 660-metric-ton tuned mass damper (the largest spherical wind damper in the world at the time), a giant golden sphere suspended between floors 88 and 92 to counteract sway from wind or seismic activity—it reduces building movement by up to 40%.

Other Highlights

  • Ultra-fast elevators: Once the world’s fastest, reaching 60.6 km/h or 37.7 mph.

  • Observatory: An indoor/outdoor observatory on the 89th floor.

  • Sustainability: Holds LEED Platinum certification for sustainability.

It’s a major tourist spot, shopping mall, and symbol of modern Taiwan.

Most of us would get nervous just looking out the windows near the top of that monster, but Alex decided to climb it.  From the outside!

He also did it solo with no one else alongside to assist, and he did it without any wires, harnesses or any other safety gear of any kind.

Absolutely insane!

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Oh, and he did it LIVE on Netflix.

It looked like this:

Honestly, my hands are getting sweaty as I type this article just looking at the footage.

I have no idea how he did this without losing his grip.

Or WHY he did this!

Here’s a sped-up time-lapse of part of the climb:

No ropes.

No safety gear of any kind:

If you’ve ever been on the roof of even a small building you know the higher you go, the more windy it gets.

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So on top of everything else, you’re dealing with nasty wind gusts the higher you go.

Check this out:

When he got near the top, he decided to have some fun and go “no hands” for a moment:

Here was the final moment:

TMZ reveals the payday from Netflix was “shockingly low”:

Alex Honnold says the money he made free solo climbing one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world was shockingly low.

The legendary rock climber revealed his payday for scaling Taipei 101 — a 1,667 foot, 101-story tower — was “embarrassingly small,” especially when compared to the massive contracts earned by mainstream pro athletes. The death defying climb, which aired live on Netflix, earned Honnold a “mid six figures” payout, according to the New York Times.

Despite the modest check, Honnold says the money wasn’t the motivation. In fact, he admitted he would’ve taken on the dangerous climb even without a paycheck if he had permission from the building.

But I suppose when you’ve already done this, a nice building with ledges is probably a walk in the park:

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Wild!

One more as I wrap this up….check out the people watching him from the inside — I could hardly bare to look:

Any thoughts?


 

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