Staff Writer- Nathan Swanson

For Americans, sports are crucial to how we view ourselves and our culture. They require hard work and perseverance, traits that are strongly valued. Sports are a form of entertainment, keeping us engaged with teams and specific athletes. This appreciation often comes with your common sports like soccer, football, and basketball, but what about extreme sports? What about climbing stunts where you are at a loss for words, not only for the sport itself, but also for the spectacle and the risk-taking of the participant? 

You might have heard of Alex Honnold; he’s a 40-year-old professional rock climber who has taken the internet by storm. This last Sunday, he became the first free solo climber to scale the Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taiwan with nothing but his bare hands and feet. The Taipei skyscraper, made of steel, glass, and concrete, is 508m (1,667ft) tall. Honnold has prepared and trained for years, along with his fair share of impressive accomplishments and climbs. He was the first person to free solo El Capitan in 2017. El Capitan, a giant and iconic granite monolith in Yosemite National Park, has seen over 30 recorded climbing deaths in the 20th century. In 2012, he completed the Yosemite Triple Crown, where he climbed El Capitan, Half Dome, and Mount Watkins in a record-setting free solo time of 18 hours 50 minutes. After his climb up Taipei 101, I believe Honnold might be one of a few, if not the only, climbers in the world to accomplish such a task. His physical endurance, along with his mental stamina to stay focused, is truly remarkable. Climbing a 101-story skyscraper is not for the faint of heart; in fact, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. When it comes to Alex Honnold, though, he welcomes a challenge. To free solo climb up a skyscraper with no safety protection means to welcome an adventure, and the excitement just builds for him. Adding to the impressive task in my opinion is that Honnold climbed the skyscraper along with the attention of reporters, media, and bystanders monitoring his every move. T.V. broadcasters followed his climb, analyzing his work as if they were following a football game. Honnold’s event, which was televised through Netflix, was titled Skyscraper Live (TV Special 2026). 

It took Honnold just a little over an hour and a half to complete his climb to the top of Taipei 101. By the end of the televised viewing on Netflix, his climb had reached an audience of 6.2 million people. There were plenty of moments that stood out from his climb. Around two minutes in, he took a second to stop climbing, and he looked out to his audience of supporters. Smiling, he waved out to them, receiving a round of applause. Close to 10 minutes into the climb, he worked to lift himself up over an edge, momentarily removing one of his arms to reach for his chalk for hand grip. The audience and T.V. broadcasters couldn’t believe what they were watching, but soon he had both hands back on the tower and continued forward. With every few moments came spectacular adjustments, and the analysis from the broadcasters continued. The audience stayed on pins and needles, hardly able to contain themselves. Over an hour into the climb, he reached a set of windows where viewers were inside Taipei 101 watching him ascend. Their phones were monitoring every move as they were witnessing and recording a historical sporting feat. At 1 hour 31 minutes, Honnold reached the top, and the crowd erupted. Grinning from ear to ear, he documented his accomplishment by taking a selfie. 

For some, Alex Honnold is seen as an inspiration, but for others, he is seen as risking things too much and taking it too far. Can free solo climbing be motivating, or is it peak insanity? In my opinion, while it is extremely risky to perform such a stunt, it is also impressive. Would I want to attempt what Honnold did? Nope! Should most people attempt to climb a 101-story skyscraper? I wouldn’t! Alex Honnold is an outlier, where 30 years of training and repetition gave him a chance to accomplish something that no one else can do. Sometimes it can be hard to grasp what athletes can achieve. Whether it’s that they make an exceptional catch in the end zone, or that they hit the game-winning shot as it bounces on the rim several times before going in, it takes your breath away. Extreme sports and free solo climbing can do the same, and while it is extremely dangerous and crazy, it deserves to be respected.