Honord: Building 101 is a family-friendly climbing spot! It only took 91 minutes to climb, and the market prediction was spot on.

Legendary climber Alex Honnold successfully free climbed Taipei 101 in 91 minutes, with the market predicting a transaction hit time of several hundred thousand dollars. The live event attracted global attention and showcased Taiwan’s regional features. Honnold also jokingly referred to the 101 building as a family-friendly climbing spot.

Honnold completes 101 in 91 minutes, jokingly says: Family-friendly climbing spot

American extreme climber Alex Honnold successfully challenged Taipei 101 on January 25. Witnessed via Netflix’s global live broadcast, he ascended the 508-meter-high building’s top in just 1 hour 31 minutes without ropes or protective gear, even bringing a phone to take selfies.

After the climb, Honnold and his wife Sanni McCandless gave media interviews. During the interview, Honnold humorously described: “Taipei 101 is a family-friendly climbing spot,” which made Sanni burst into laughter.

He explained that outdoor climbing often requires venturing into remote mountains with poor signal, staying in tents for months, and having difficulty communicating with the outside world. In contrast, he could go home the day after this challenge, making him laugh, “This is pretty chill.”

Although Honnold’s climbing process seemed relaxed, Sanni was visibly panicked during the live broadcast until she saw her husband reach the top, then she could finally relax.

101 Climb Live Prediction Sparks Market Hot Discussion, Accurately Predicts Climbing Time

This highly anticipated extreme challenge also sparked lively trading on the decentralized prediction platform Polymarket.

In the prediction contract “How long will Honnold take to climb Taipei 101 freehand?”, the final result fell into the “1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes” range. The trading volume for this option was $548,452 (about NT$17.8 million), while the prediction for completing within 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes had a trading volume of $1,006,123.

However, another prediction contract about “Will Honnold complete the freehand climb?” caused controversy. Although Polymarket ultimately ruled the result as “Yes,” some participants raised objections, pointing out that the contract rules clearly define “solo climbing” as not using ropes or protective gear.

Opponents argued based on the live footage that Honnold used a rope ladder during the final stage of reaching the top of Taipei 101, which they believe violates the market’s rule of “completely rope-free.”

101 Climb Live Broadcast Sparks Discussion, Reflecting Taiwan’s Desire to Be Seen

Netflix partnered with Taipei 101 to broadcast the rope-free climb for the first time, attracting not only enthusiastic participation from Taiwanese but also successfully drawing global attention.

Taipei 101 Chairman Jia Yongjie emphasized that this live broadcast demonstrated the building’s safety, international cooperation, and risk management capabilities—an achievement of professional governance, not reckless gambling. President Lai Ching-te also praised Honnold’s courage and thanked all behind-the-scenes personnel who made the event possible, allowing the world to see Taiwan’s architecture and passion.

However, BBC reported that the live broadcast also raised concerns among some about excessive performance and potential imitation effects, as well as climbing brands being targeted online due to inappropriate social media posts.

Taiwanese scholars analyzed that this reflects Taiwan society’s collective desire and anxiety to be “seen,” using international broadcasts to confirm its position on the world stage.

Further reading:
Are Taiwanese really unable to afford it? Exploring the American illusion and Taiwan’s illness through The Economist