If you’re wondering what one chooses to soundtrack their death-defying free solo climb up the Taipei 101 in Tapei, Taiwan, it would appear that the music of alternative metal juggernauts Tool is a preferred sonic accompaniment. Alex Honnold, a 40-year-old professional rock climber who was previously the subject of the 2018 documentary film ‘Free Solo‘, performed that death-defying stunt in a live especial on Netflix today, January 25th.
The 101-story ascent — which was completed without the assistance of ropes — took Honnold roughly an hour and 35 minutes to complete. Asked today by Variety about the soundtrack that helped propel him up the skyscraper today, despite some apparent technical difficulties, Honnold responded:
“It was mostly Tool. It’s a random playlist that I made, that I shared with production. 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. Part of the appeal of music is that actually it helps me with pacing.
Each bamboo box had been taking me about five to six and a half minutes. 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 and I was kind of like, ‘Whatever. I’m just doing my thing.'”
While Honnold didn’t provide further specifics on what corners of Tool‘s esteemed catalog he chose for the climb, one would assume it wasn’t “Descending” from the band’s Billboard 200-topping 2019 comeback album “Fear Inoculum“.
Upon summiting the building, Honnold snapped the below selfies to celebrate his victory:
