Finally, so that the viewer could breathe a sigh of relief. Even those sitting in front of the screen who know the climbing game will have to admit that the Netflix live broadcast was unsettling, uncomfortable, at times beautiful and at times infuriating. The American climber spent 1 hour 21 minutes and 34 seconds climbing the 508 meters of the steel, glass and concrete colossus, that is, a barbaric speed, but here the stopwatch was an anecdote: if he had not greeted the public who were shouting at the foot of the building, the cameramen, those who were watching him from inside glued to the windows, he could have gone even faster. But then it would have been too fast, even by the platform’s standards. streaming.
Honnold is known as Alex ‘no big deal’ for his modesty and his ability to put the extraordinary into perspective. In view of the images, on a surface that is not at all adherent and with holds that required him to constantly pinch the projections of the structure. Honnold chose one of the edges of the building to overcome the difficulties, he left behind the first third of the building without problems and faced a dozen ornaments, known as the dragons of the skyscraper, which he chose to overcome in the most genuine way possible: instead of avoiding them from one side, he climbed the piece, each time tracing movements that triggered anguish in the viewer.
Only a couple of details caused concern: the climber constantly dried his hands on his pants or shirt, an unmistakable sign that some holds were damp or wet. : The poor adhesion of the metal caused his feet to skid slightly, adding more stress to his arms. But the most spectacular movements were at the top of the building: overhangs that he overcame by flying his feet, drawing traction and even allowing himself a knee barthat is, blocking your knee in a hole to release your arms, rest head down for a second and continue. “He’s playing with the audience,” said Emily Harrington, one of the four people who commented on the show, but the only one who contributed interesting data thanks to her status as a climber.
Alain Robert, the French Spiderman with hundreds of buildings climbed without a rope on his resume, remembers that he started climbing to overcome his fear of heights, to prove to himself that he could face and overcome a lack. In two decades, Alex Honnold has gone from being a withdrawn climber, with serious difficulties finding a rope partner, to being a world star. The Yosemite veterans remember him at night in the camp 4 gatherings on the edge of the group, with his eyes bulging and his ears protruding, mute. I wanted to be part of that community, but I didn’t know how. His comprehensive solos on the valley walls soon led him to lead the group, to take over from the best to continue making history. He didn’t have to speak, his gestures saved him any speech. For years he lived in his van, nomadic, barely advertising his ropeless climbs. Now, with a wife, children, a Hollywood Oscar and a house in the basement of which he has a dream climbing wall, he remains true to himself.
Shortly before traveling to Taiwan, he completed a four-way chain of Mount Wilson without a rope, totaling 12 hours of activity: in comparison, Taipei 101 will have been a game even if it is the largest skyscraper climb ever offered live. Curiously, Honnold claims to be stronger than ever at 40 years old: “I’ve been climbing five days a week for 29 years, it’s normal that it doesn’t cost me much to do certain things,” he explained to Netflix. His level in sport climbing is 9 a. In Spain alone there are almost 60 climbers, men and women, capable of climbing this difficulty. Quite possibly, none of them will ever consider doing without the rope. It’s not enough to want it, you have to be able to do it. The Czech Adam Ondra, infinitely stronger than Honnold, assures that it would never occur to him to measure himself against a single integral: “I have fallen so many times by surprise, being convinced that it was impossible to suffer a fall, that the mere possibility of doing without the rope scares me,” he assures.
Immortal as he may seem, not even Honnold himself is safe from fatality, something that Netflix has had to evaluate at some point before proposing and executing a form of entertainment that launches the debate about its own necessity and the ethical considerations that go along with it.
