Alex Honnold Soloing Taipei 101

Let’s get down to what really matters.

We’re these custom purpose built shoes???

Besides a simple chalkbag, headphones to listen to his Tool soundtrack, shorts, and a t-shirt, Honnold will wear custom La Sportiva climbing shoes that the Italian company designed just for his ascent. He will either wear an all-yellow pair of La Sportiva TC Pros with a yellow rubber that’s softer and better equipped for climbing on glass and buildings, or a pair of softer Skwamas.

https://www.climbing.com/news/alex-honnold-netflix-skyscraper-live/ 

James -wrote:

https://www.climbing.com/news/alex-honnold-netflix-skyscraper-live/ 

perfect! thank you for assisting in my laziness in doing 0 research. I assumed it was super soft rubber/non-marring of some sort.

Now I'm curious. When Alain Robert top roped it did he climb the spire? I'm just assuming that if Alex wouldn't do it it's not possible.

Marcus Malliawrote:

Now I'm curious. When Alain Robert top roped it did he climb the spire? I'm just assuming that if Alex wouldn't do it it's not possible.

He didn't. They (Alain, Alex, and Fitz) talk about it on a recent episode of climbing gold. The section with the caving ladder is too smooth to climb unaided. The ladder was added for this climb.

Alain said he would have done it without the top rope, but it was wet and he was injured, and I believe because it was a promotional event put on by the building, there were time constraints.

Well i haven’t seen the livestream but this thread has been very entertaining. Fascinating how strongly some people feel about a guy climbing up a thing. 

Walt Peterswrote:

^^^^ this

I watched the replay and fast forwarded thru it.  I endured the beginning which contained rather annoying commentary if you are or were a climber.
He looks happy and got paid doing something he loves to do.  His wife seemed on board.  I don’t get the hate he is receiving from a lot on this forum. 

Envy.

He got paid. Maybe had fun, don't know, don't care.People with nothing else to do watched it. I had nothing else to do and didn't watch it, did not watch the solo thing either. Maybe it's like people watching nascar, 500 miles of left turns with the hope of seeing a crash, maybe with fire.

I watched it and it was alright. I have to assume better than Dancing With The Stars 'cause I don't watch that shit.

Kevinmurraywrote:

...did not watch the solo thing either.

You should for the cinematography alone.

Professional climbers should not do anything that they enjoy, or make money from the sport that they dedicate their entire lives to doing.  

I climbed before Alex Honnold introduced billions of tech bros to climbing, and now the sport is terrible because I am no longer special and cool.  My wife left me for a tech bro who only boulders V3 (I climb V4, by the way).  Now, all I have left is my $250K van.  I think I'm going to start skiing now.  See you all at Palisades this weekend!

Reese Stanleywrote:

Professional climbers should not do anything that they enjoy, or make money from the sport that they dedicate their entire lives to doing.  ....

See you all at Palisades this weekend!

Kevinmurraywrote:

He got paid. Maybe had fun, don't know, don't care.People with nothing else to do watched it. I had nothing else to do and didn't watch it, did not watch the solo thing either. Maybe it's like people watching nascar, 500 miles of left turns with the hope of seeing a crash, maybe with fire.

"I didn't watch it, don't plan to watch it, but here's my opinion anyway"

Dan Dwrote:

"I didn't watch it, don't plan to watch it, but here's my opinion anyway"

M P
M O

I haven't climbed it, I can't climb it, but let me spray beta

Dan Dwrote:

"I didn't watch it, don't plan to watch it, but here's my opinion anyway"

Looks like 11 pages of opinions. 

Ricky Harlinewrote:

Is there anyone with strong feelings or opinions about this that is able to articulate why they do? I genuinely can't comprehend it. 

Since I consider you a serious person who is open to taking in different points of view, I'll try.

I think people like Honnold and other famous climbers are not just monetizing their talents, which they should if they can, but are also commercializing climbing and contributing to what I call the "gymnification" of climbing.

I got into climbing as an extension of my love of the mountains. As I got bored of hiking to lakes and mountain passes, I started finding my way up ridges and faces to see what there was to see. Sometimes it was a talus slog, but sometimes it was an exhilarating 5.easy scramble before I knew anything about the YDS.

Based on all that, you might understand why the only famous climbers I have any interest in are people like Fred Beckey, who went up into the unknown and maybe did or maybe didn't find a way up or back down. It's way more impressive to me, considering the risks, even if it turned out to be 5.6 in shitty weather, than watching Adam Ondra scream his way up some 5.15 sport route. Beckey, Clyde, and others were way more adventurous and took on so much more risk.

Before someone rushes to point out how Honnold free soloed a 5.13a on El Capitan, I'll admit it was an amazing feat that I will never replicate, but it's also lame that he rehearsed it on TR so many times. It was still badass to pull it off, but it would have been so much more impressive had he not trained on it.

Fred Beckey didn't rehearse his first ascents into the alpine with questionable gear.

What I hate more than the famous climbers, who are just making a good living off their talents, are the climbers who idolize them, especially those that refer to them on first-name basis when they've never met them in person. Climbers talk a great game about being rebellious and all that, but it's funny how so many of them fall into groupthink and groupspeak.

When I started climbing, I didn't know the names of any famous climbers except the two guys who first climbed Everest. It was just about love of the mountains, the rock, and the clean air. Now, I can't not hear (or see) people who consider themselves as rebels and as heirs to the outcasts of the Yosemite OGs slinging around the first names of badass pro climbers as if they know them.

I wish these people had just stayed in the gym.

I appreciated reading your POV Robert. It's funny because people are so strongly opinionated in opposite ways. Some want adventure climbing preserved and some are personally offended if I ever make a decision that isn't 100% safe. I get yelled at (maybe being a woman) if I do anything remotely "sketchy" but you describe Beckey going up unrehearsed and I'm sitting here thinking, did he plan or just wing it? What level of planning is admirable vs. too much planning and no longer impressive - is risk impressive? Respectable? These questions aren't directed at you but I'm thinking out loud. I'd like to scream my way up a 5.15 more than take on more risk, but at the same time, I did some adventure climbing for a few years and loved it. It was more about onsighting and making decisions as I went. I felt more in tune with my body because I couldn't plan too much, had to adjust. Had to figure it out as I went. I don't enjoy rehearsed climbs, but I do enjoy when my body knows the movement. 

I totally hear ya on climbers being rebellious. I've had so many men try to "show off" that they free solo hard stuff and do these dangerous things and I didn't find it impressive. I find it more impressive when someone pushes themself just enough, just a little past their comfort zone. If someone has a death wish that doesn't make them braver, if they care about life and still face fears then I find it inspiring. 

Reese Stanleywrote:

Professional climbers should not do anything that they enjoy, or make money from the sport that they dedicate their entire lives to doing.  

I climbed before Alex Honnold introduced billions of tech bros to climbing, and now the sport is terrible because I am no longer special and cool.  My wife left me for a tech bro who only boulders V3 (I climb V4, by the way).  Now, all I have left is my $250K van.  I think I'm going to start skiing now.  See you all at Palisades this weekend!

I do not subscribe to the American stereotype that Americans do not understand irony.

Robert Swrote:

Since I consider you a serious person who is open to taking in different points of view, I'll try.

I think people like Honnold and other famous climbers are not just monetizing their talents, which they should if they can, but are also commercializing climbing and contributing to what I call the "gymnification" of climbing.

I got into climbing as an extension of my love of the mountains. As I got bored of hiking to lakes and mountain passes, I started finding my way up ridges and faces to see what there was to see. Sometimes it was a talus slog, but sometimes it was an exhilarating 5.easy scramble before I knew anything about the YDS.

Based on all that, you might understand why the only famous climbers I have any interest in are people like Fred Beckey, who went up into the unknown and maybe did or maybe didn't find a way up or back down. It's way more impressive to me, considering the risks, even if it turned out to be 5.6 in shitty weather, than watching Adam Ondra scream his way up some 5.15 sport route. Beckey, Clyde, and others were way more adventurous and took on so much more risk.

Before someone rushes to point out how Honnold free soloed a 5.13a on El Capitan, I'll admit it was an amazing feat that I will never replicate, but it's also lame that he rehearsed it on TR so many times. It was still badass to pull it off, but it would have been so much more impressive had he not trained on it.

Fred Beckey didn't rehearse his first ascents into the alpine with questionable gear.

What I hate more than the famous climbers, who are just making a good living off their talents, are the climbers who idolize them, especially those that refer to them on first-name basis when they've never met them in person. Climbers talk a great game about being rebellious and all that, but it's funny how so many of them fall into groupthink and groupspeak.

When I started climbing, I didn't know the names of any famous climbers except the two guys who first climbed Everest. It was just about love of the mountains, the rock, and the clean air. Now, I can't not hear (or see) people who consider themselves as rebels and as heirs to the outcasts of the Yosemite OGs slinging around the first names of badass pro climbers as if they know them.

I wish these people had just stayed in 

Practising a sequence of moves is not "lame"; instead it is responsible given the level of difficulty and his obligations. Practising on a TR does not ensure success when not on a TR. The risk of a fall maybe reduced as a result of practising but to describe it as 'lame' perhaps points to your questionable evaluation of risk taking.

Robert Swrote:

I wish these people had just stayed in the gym.

I'm reading Hangdog Days and discovering just how elitist and hypocritical those camp 4 Yosemite climbers were towards outsiders. It's a great book so far, giving a first-hand account around when climbing ethics and techniques were evolving from pitons to sport.

I think people are people everywhere (in the gym or outside) and are capable of group think or prejudgements. 

I agree though that the 'gym attitude' can affect the 'adventure vibe' at the crag. One positive thing is that, in the US at least, there is plenty of adventure climbing away from the crowds as you get farther away from the road.

I remember my bro, Alex, mentioning the same on an episode of Climbing Gold. :-)