American Climber Honnold Scales Taiwan’s Skyscraper

American climber Alex Honnold has successfully scaled a Taiwan skyscraper without a rope, harness or safety equipment.

The building, named Taipei 101 for the number of its floors, stands at 508m of steel, glass and concrete and is designed to resemble a stick of bamboo.

Honnold is renowned for being the first person to climb El Capitan, the vertical granite cliff in California’s Yosemite national park – also without ropes or safety gear.

Honnold completed the climb in an hour and thirty-one minutes and celebrated the achievement with one word: “Sick.”

His time more than halves the record of the only other person to scale the tower.

Alain Robert, a Frenchman who called himself “Spiderman”, made it to the top of Taipei 101 – at the time the world’s tallest building, in four hours. He did so with ropes and a harness.

Honnold was greeted at the top of the building by his wife, who expressed concern for the wind and heat as he climbed.

As Honnold reached the 89th floor, fans cheered and waved, face to face with the man clinging to the building but for the window.

Honnold has made many extreme climbs during his career. A documentary about his ascent of the 3,000 foot El Capitan, titled Free Solo, won an Academy Award. (Agencies)