On January 25, 2026, Alex Honnold did the unthinkable. He became the first man ever to climb Taipei 101, a skyscraper in Taiwan, without ropes or protective gear. Singlehandedly (no pun intended), he shocked the entire world by reaching the top in record time, just 1 hour and 35 minutes. All the while, thousands were watching him, those streaming the event on Netflix, and those on the streets below. Talk about insane pressure.
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After accomplishing the feat, Alex revealed in an interview that he had a few things planned that made his journey to the top easier. One of them was the music that he chose to listen to on the way up.
"It's a random playlist that I made that I shared with production," he told Variety. "I made it months ago while I was driving. I've been training to it a bunch. Basically, rock music that I've liked my whole life."
His secret weapon? Apparently, listening to a lot of Tool, a rock band that's somewhat comparable to Pink Floyd. According to Alex, listening to music on his climb helped him figure out just how fast he was going, but at a certain point, it also didn't really matter.
"Part of the appeal of music is that actually it helps me with pacing," he shared. "I just know how long the songs are. So it gives you a sense of if you're going fast or slow. But in this case, it all kept cutting out anyway, and I couldn't really hear."
"I was kind of like, "Whatever. I'm just doing my thing."
Words of Wisdom From Alex Honnold
As of this January, Alex Honnold has been climbing for about 35 years, starting from the time he was literally 5 years old. However, it wasn't until he was about 20 that he actually started "free-soloing", or climbing without any ropes or equipment.
In an interview with Jay Shetty on his podcast, Honnold shared that climbing, although it can be scary, has actually helped him combat a lot of more minor anxieties.
"Climbing is always scary," he shared. "You're always a little bit on edge because you know there are consequences... but that changes your relationship with fear because you're just scared all the time. It puts all the other fears in life—like public speaking or social anxiety—into perspective."
According to Alex, the key is to stay calm, and "just keep moving."
"A lot of the time you're a little bit scared, but you totally ignore it because the rational part of your mind is like, 'This is fine.' But occasionally, you have to evaluate: 'Am I scared because I'm in danger, or am I scared because it's just high?'"
"If it's the latter, you just keep moving."
