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TAIPEI, Taiwan — <\/span>Towering high above Taiwan\u2019s capital city at 1,667 feet (508 meters), Taipei 101 dominates the skyline.<\/p>\n The earthquake-proof skyscraper of steel and glass has captured the imagination of professional rock climber Alex Honnold<\/a> for more than a decade. On Saturday morning, he will climb it in his signature free solo style \u2014 without ropes or protective equipment. And Netflix will broadcast it \u2014 live.<\/p>\n The event\u2019s announcement has drawn both excitement and trepidation, as well as some concerns over the ethical implications of attempting such a high-risk endeavor on live broadcast. Many have questioned Honnold\u2019s desire to continues his free-solo climbs now that he\u2019s a married father of two young girls.<\/p>\n Known for his legendary ropeless ascent up Yosemite National Park\u2019s El Capitan, documented in \u201cFree Solo,\u201d<\/a> Honnold is intent on pushing the limits of climbing around the world.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you look at climbing objectives, you look for things that are singular,\u201d Honnold told The Associated Press late last year. \u201cSomething like El Capitan where it\u2019s way bigger and way prouder than all the things around it.\u201d<\/p>\n Something like Taipei 101.<\/p>\n Honnold won\u2019t be the first climber to ascend the skyscraper, but he will be the first to do so without a rope. French rock climber Alain Robert scaled the building on Christmas Day in 2004, as part of the grand opening of what was then the world’s tallest building. He took nearly four hours to finish, almost twice as long as what he anticipated, all while nursing an injured elbow and battered by wind and rain.<\/p>\n Honnold, who has been training for months, doesn’t think his climb will be hard. He\u2019s practiced the moves on the building and spoke with Robert on his climbing podcast.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019ll be that extreme,\u201d Honnold said. \u201cWe\u2019ll see. I think it\u2019s the perfect sweet spot where it\u2019s hard enough to be engaging for me and obviously an interesting climb.\u201d<\/p>\n The building has 101 floors, with the hardest part being the 64 floors comprising the middle section \u2014 the \u201cbamboo boxes\u201d that give the building its signature look. Divided into eight, each segment will have eight floors of steep, overhanging climbing followed by a balcony that Honnold would be able to rest on.<\/p>\n The \u201cSkyscraper Live\u201d broadcast will be on a 10-second delay and begin Friday evening for viewers in the U.S. <\/p>\n James Smith, an executive with event producer Plimsoll Productions, said he consulted safety advisers almost immediately after he first spoke with Honnold about attempting the climb. Smith works with a risk management group for film and TV called Secret Compass, which has supported productions in filming penguins in Antarctica and helping Chris Hemsworth walk across a crane projecting from an Australian skyscraper’s roof, alike.<\/p>\n Smith and Honnold will be able to communicate throughout the event. They\u2019ll have cameramen positioned inside the building, various hatches and places to bail during the climb and four high-angle camera operators suspended on ropes.<\/p>\n \u201cThese people all know Alex. They trust Alex. They\u2019re going to be close to him throughout the whole climb,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to get us kind of amazing shots, but they\u2019re also there just to keep an eye on him, and if there\u2019s any problems, they can kind of help.\u201d<\/p>\n The production has also commissioned professional weather forecasters to provide updates leading up to climb day. There’s currently a small chance of light rain in the morning, Smith said. Ultimately, if conditions are bad, Honnold won\u2019t climb.<\/p>\n At his local gym, Taiwanese rock climber Chin Tzu-hsiang said he\u2019s grown up always looking up at the Taipei 101 and wondering if he could climb it. Honnold is a household name among rock climbers even in Taiwan, and Chin said he has students who have only been climbing for a year or two who are excited to watch. Based on watching Honnold in his other climbs, Chin said he trusts him to prepare for the challenge and not to recklessly take risks.<\/p>\n \u201cFor Alex Honnold to finish the climb, it\u2019s like he\u2019s helping us fulfill our dream,\u201d Chin said.<\/p>\n The novelty and risk involved in the climb are almost built for television.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will be the highest, the biggest urban free solo ever,\u201d Smith said. \u201cSo we\u2019re kind of writing history and those events, I think, have to be broadcast and watched live.\u201d<\/p>\n Those same factors are crucial when discussing the ethics of the climb, according to Subbu Vincent, director of media and journalism ethics at Santa Clara University.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important that Honnold has a \u201cback-off clause\u201d and the production aspect of the event doesn\u2019t increase the risk he\u2019s already taking, Vincent said. One action that Vincent believes is crucial is using a delay in the live broadcast so it can be stopped immediately if something goes wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s ethical to proceed to livestream anything after,\u201d Vincent said.<\/p>\n Taipei 101 officials declined to comment and Secret Compass did not respond to interview requests.<\/p>\n Another consideration is the influence Honnold may have on impressionable youth who may feel more emboldened to take risks after watching him climb, a debate that has existed since Evel Knievel\u2019s televised daredevil stunts.<\/p>\n Many climbers have died from free-soloing, including an 18-year-old rock climber from Texas who fell last June in Yosemite. A trend called \u201croof-topping\u201d \u2014 where people gain access to the tops of skyscrapers, often illegally, to take photos of themselves dangling from the edge \u2014 has also led to several deaths<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jeff Smoot, who authored the book \u201cAll and Nothing: Inside Free Soloing,\u201d shares those concerns. But what the general public might not understand is that embracing risk has always been a significant part of climbing culture, he said.<\/p>\n Smoot began climbing in the 1970s watching legendary climbers like John Long and John Bachar free-solo regularly.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the public\u2019s perspective, this is thrill-seeking. From the climber\u2019s perspective, it\u2019s a meditative art form,\u201d Smoot said.<\/p>\n When he first heard Honnold would be ascending Taipei 101 without ropes, Smoot had questions \u2014 why do it at all, why do it without ropes, why film it live?<\/p>\n But, he concluded, \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t dangerous, would people want to watch?\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Ding reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press journalist Simina Mistreanu contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n