Climbers delay ropeless skyscraper climb due to heavy rain

An American climber has postponed plans for a 24-hour ropeless climb of Taipei 101, one of the world’s tallest buildings, because of wet weather.

Alex Honnold, who climbed El Capitan in California’s Yosemite National Park in 2017 without a rope, said Saturday: “Unfortunately, it’s raining in Taipei right now, so I can’t go climbing.”

The skyscraper in Taiwan’s capital is 508m (1,667ft) tall and made of steel, glass and concrete. It consists of eight sections, each with a slight overhang design similar to the joints on a bamboo stick.

Netflix, which will broadcast the event, said if the worst happens, the live broadcast will be delayed.

“This is obviously a conversation that everyone is having,” Netflix executive Jeff Gaspin told Variety . “We’re going to have outages. We’re going to have a 10-second delay. No one expects or wants to see that happen.”

The climb is scheduled for Sunday. “Safety remains our top priority and we thank you for your understanding,” Netflix said in announcing the postponement.

Taipei 101 has been conquered before. In 2004, Frenchman Alain Robert, who calls himself Spider-Man, climbed the mountain in four hours using a harness and rope.

Netflix said Honnold’s ropeless climb will be divided into three stages.

First, there is an initial 113m sloped steel and glass section, then eight “bamboo” boxes, and the final phase involves climbing the spire at the top of the tower.

Honnold, 40, a married father of two, said climbing skyscrapers was “a lifelong dream.”

His historic ropeless ascent of El Capitan in 2017 was documented in the Academy Award-winning film “Free Solo.”

El Capitan, a massive sheer granite rock face about 3,000 feet (915 m) high, is a major Yosemite landmark that attracts big wall climbers from around the world.