American mountaineer Alex Honnold reaches the top of the Taipei 101 skyscraper without ropes

Taipei, TAIWAN — American mountaineer Alex Honnold climbed the Taipei 101 skyscraper on Sunday without ropes or protective equipment.

There were cheers from the street-level crowd when he reached the top of the spire of the 508-meter tower about 90 minutes after he started. He was wearing a red short-sleeved shirt and waving his arms back and forth over his head.

Honnold, known for his ropeless ascent of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, climbed a corner of Taipei 101 using small L-shaped outcroppings as footholds. Occasionally he had to maneuver and climb the sides of large ornamental structures protruding from the tower, pulling himself up with his bare hands.

The building has 101 floors, the most difficult part of which are the 64 floors of the middle section: the “bamboo boxes” that give the building its distinctive look. Each segment is divided into eight and has eight floors of steep, overhanging climbs, followed by balconies, where he took short breaks as he ascended.

Honnold’s free solo climb of the iconic building in Taiwan’s capital was broadcast live on Netflix with a 10-second delay. The climb, originally scheduled for Saturday, was postponed 24 hours due to rain.

The climb caused both excitement and concern about the ethical implications of attempting such a risky venture via live broadcast.

Honnold is not the first climber to scale the skyscraper, but he is the first to do so without a rope. French mountaineer Alain Robert climbed the building on Christmas Day in 2004 as part of the grand opening of what was then the tallest building in the world