Alex Honnold is the first man to free solo the Taipei 101, a 1,667 ft and 101-floor tall skyscraper. Most rock climbers climb indoors, where they are protected by soft, padded floors or a harness. Some people climb outdoors, where they carry a pad to protect themselves from falls, or climb with a partner and a rope in case of falls. However, when free soloing, climbers complete routes without any partner to assist them or any protective gear such as pads or harnesses. This is extremely dangerous, and accidents can occur, which is why many people do not practice it.
Trevor Liu (7) states, “Usually when you climb outdoors, you have ropes to attach yourself to the rock face. But when you free solo, you don't have ropes to protect you, so when you fall, you're basically dead.“
Honnold is an American climber who is famous for his multiple free solos of difficult routes. At 31, he was the first person to free solo a full route on El Capitan in Yosemite, completing the 2,900 ft Freerider route in under 4 hours. It was the first free solo of a 5.13a graded climb at that height, and it is one of the most impressive feats in the climbing world. Many people look up to him as one of the best climbers in the world.
Sean Li (10) says, “I look up to him a lot because he does really dangerous stuff. I know he's climbed a lot of hard rocks, he free solos, he climbed a 3000 ft wall –El Cap in Yosemite– he also climbed Taipei 101 at 40 yrs old with a live audience. I also heard he did it in front of his kids, so I respect his confidence.”
On January 25th of 2026, Honnold completed the Taipei 101 free solo. The Taiwanese skyscraper is the 11th-tallest building in the world, and Honnold’s ascent of it was streamed live on Netflix. He reached the top in only an hour and 36 minutes, beating the previous record of 4 hours, by the climber Alain Robert, who had climbed with protective gear.
Ever since he was 5 years old, Honnold has been climbing in a gym, and participated in multiple climbing competitions as a teenager. He had been studying civil engineering at UC Berkeley before dropping out of college to climb. Alex has been living in a van ever since, driving to different areas to climb. In 2020, he married Sanni McCandless, and they have two daughters together. Honnold’s climbing ability arose from a combination of talent and lifelong practice, and an MRI has shown that his amygdala does not show much activity when watching disturbing images.
Meher Wadia (10), who watched his Netflix documentary, commented, “He had a brain scan done. They found that one part is not working like a normal person in terms of fear response.”
This is similar to other thrill seekers who have been desensitized to high-adrenaline situations, and is a testament to his extreme dedication to the sport.