Alex Honnold will attempt to free solo climb Taipai 101 live tonight on Netflix: What you need to know

The star of Free Solo will attempt ‘the biggest urban free solo ever’ as he scales the Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taiwan

Alex Honnold will scale the Taipei 101 skyscraper at 9am local time in Taipei on Saturday (AP)

You may know Alex Honnold from the sensational documentary Free Solo, where the climber completes a lifelong dream to scale the famous El Capitan in Yosemite, California.

Honnold shot to fame after climbing the 3,200ft vertical rock formation and is back for what promises to be another terrifying feat. This time he will attempt to scale the 1,667 feet tall Taipei 101 skyscraper, one of the tallest buildings in the world. The challenge will not include ropes or safety nets, though Honnold has 30 years of climbing experience.

“Taipei 101, as part of its opening ceremony, was climbed by a French climber named Alain Robert with ropes, and he climbed it over four hours — he had just broken his arm or something crazy,” Honnold remarked when launching this challenge, confirming he will be the first to scale the building free solo. “He was a great climber in his time; he’s really a skilled soloist, and he’s climbed a lot of buildings around the world.”

He added that he believes successfully reaching the top will establish the climb as “the biggest urban free solo ever.”

Here’s what we know about the extraordinary challenge and event:

The Taipei 101 skyscraper (pictured centre) was the tallest building in the world between 2004 and 2009 (AFP/Getty)

When and where is Skyscraper Live?

Alex Honnold’s ‘Skyscraper Live’ climb is on Saturday, 24 January 2026 at 1am GMT (8pm ET/5pm PT).

How can I watch Skyscraper Live?

The event, which will last two hours, is being live-streamed on Netflix.

Skyscraper Live, Netflix’s coverage of free solo climber Alex Honnold scaling the Taipei 101, is streaming live on the platform tonight.

How will it work?

Acclaimed climber Robert, aka the French Spiderman, climbed Taipei 101 on top rope in 2004 and has tipped Honnold to pull it off: “I’m sure he’ll do it very easily.”

It is thought that Honnold will require between two and four hours to complete the climb.

Honnold’s fate and how long he might take to complete the climb can be speculated over and backed on the cryptocurrency-based prediction market Polymarket. Current odds tip him to finish in about 75 minutes.

The Guardian reports that Netflix will include a viewer-discretion advisory, as well as a 10-second delay.

Honnold shot to fame for free soloing El Capitan, a granite monolith in Yosemite (AFP via Getty Images)

A small live audience will take in the event in Taipei, while an on-air panel will provide insight and analysis for the broadcast.

The challenge appears terrifying to the average viewer, but the skyscraper is supposed to challenge endurance more than technique, with Honnold remarking: “The challenge is the overall physicality. I don’t know how it’s going to feel.”

Honnold maintains this is “safer” than a lot of rock climbing challenges, though a mistake would likely be fatal.

“If something happens, I would die,” Honnold said. “Though actually, on this particular building, that’s not even totally true because there are balconies every few floors.

“The geometry of the building, the shape of the building is such that you actually could fall in tons of places and not actually die, which makes it in some ways safer than a lot of rock-climbing objectives,” he explained.

Who is Alex Honnold?

Honnold has become one of the most famous rock climbers in the world since the ascent of El Capitan (AFP via Getty Images)

Honnold is an American rock climber, born in 1985 in Sacramento, California. He shot to fame in 2017 when he became the first person to ‘free solo’ – climb without any ropes, harnesses, or other safety equipment – a full route on El Capitan, a 3,000ft granite monolith in California’s Yosemite National Park.

He was the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo and is now considered one of the world’s greatest climbers.

What is the Taipei 101?

The Taipei 101 skyscraper is a 1,667-foot-tall (508m) tower located in the Taiwanese capital of Taipei. Built in 2004, the skyscraper was originally the tallest building in the world before it was overtaken by Dubai’s Burj Khalifa (2,722 ft/829m) in 2009.

Nowadays, the building is the 11th tallest in the world, though it remains the tallest structure in Taiwan. It features mostly glass curtain walls, with a so-called ‘bamboo box’ design that features stacked segments with balconies every eight floors This provides a chance to rest, and is also more predictable than climbing on rock faces.