American rock climber Alex Honnold begins his ascent of the Taipei 101 skyscraper

TAIPEI: American rock climber Alex Honnold began his ascent of the Taipei 101 skyscraper on Sunday (Jan 25) without any ropes.

Cheers erupted from a gathered crowd as he started climbing the tower, using the horizontal metal beams to pull himself up with his bare hands.

The onlookers cheered again when he paused at one point and turned around to face them, in a red short-sleeve shirt that stood out as he made the climb.

Honnold’s free solo climb of the iconic building in Taiwan’s capital was being broadcast live on Netflix. The ascent, originally scheduled for the previous day, was delayed for 24 hours due to rain.

The 508m building, which dominates the city’s skyline and is a major tourist attraction, was the tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2010, a crown currently held by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Taipei 101 has been scaled before.

In 2004, French climber Alain Robert, dubbed Spiderman for his ropeless ascents of some of the world’s highest skyscrapers, climbed the building, in a time of four hours with a safety rope.