The Current - What does it take to free solo climb a skyscraper?

Episode Date: January 27, 2026

 Alex Honnold captivated audiences around the world when he free solo climbed a 1,667 foot skyscraper in Taiwan named Taipei 101. Few people understand what Alex might have been feeling like Dan Goodwin. Forty years ago Dan free solo climbed the CN tower. Now he is talking about what it takes to achieve such a feat.

Hey, it's me Gavin Crawford, host of the Because News podcast. If you're looking for some kind of group therapy for the news, well, we've got you. On Because News, I quiz the brightest and funniest Canadians about what's going on in the world, all in front of a live audience. So whether you spent the week quoting aphorisms of Thucydides or binge watching heated rivalry, we'll catch you up on the Canadian headlines. Follow us wherever you get your fine podcasts for free. This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. Those cheers are for Alex Honnold as he climbed more than 500 meters, 16,000 feet to the top of Taipei 101, without ropes or protective gear.

His ascent up the side of an iconic skyscraper in Taiwan's capital city was broadcast live on Netflix over the weekend to the excitement and the horror of viewers around the world. I think the biggest challenge was staying calm. I don't know, having the crowd, having the whole experience, having all the people around, it just makes it feel a little more intense. And so I think starting felt, you know, I was a little more nervous getting off the ground. And then as I climbed, I relaxed more and more. I was like, oh, this is so fun. I mean, this is why I do it. It was incredible.

People have different interpretations of what fun is, I suppose. There are very few people in the world who could understand what Alex might have been feeling, quite like Dan Goodwin. Dan Goodwin is a former urban free solo climber. He became known as Spider-Dan because 40 years ago, he free climbed the Sea and Tower in Toronto. It's also the author of a forthcoming book called Untethered. when success is your only option. Spider-Dan, good morning.

Good morning, Matt, and good morning, Canada. Thank you for inviting me on your show. I really appreciate it. Thanks for being here. I watched Alex go up this building, and it scared the hell out of me watching this live on Netflix. What was going through your mind as you watched him go to the top of this building? You know, I know Alex, and I know how well he prepared for this,

and I know that he had top rope the route beforehand, So I knew that he was super confident that it was pretty much like a walk in a park for him. So it wasn't like there was much scariness for me. So I knew that he had it in the bag before he even started. A walk in the park. I mean, just explain when I say free solo. What does that mean? Well, you know, in rock climbing, there's like several different categories.

You know, like when you talk about free solo, you know, there is also the on-site free solo. The onsite free solo, a good example of that was the CN Tower back in 19. 86 when I free soloed both sides of it, I walked up to it and without any dress rehearsal at all, free soloed it. Whereas Taipei 101, Alex took the time over years to top rope it and memorize all the moves, get all the holes nice and clean. So it was a choreographed, kind of like a circus delay type of event. And the point is with the free soloing is that you have no protective gear. There's no rope. If you slip, you're going down. That's the whole idea.

You know, it's do it or die, basically. Why would somebody do something like this? You know, it's different for everybody, you know, and how I started was different than how others like Alex started. But a lot of times it's just kind of like to test your mind, you know, like kind of going back to the martial arts, kind of like the Kung Fu, Shalin Temple type mentality, where you're doing something that is so dangerous.

The only way that you could possibly achieve it is a written state that no one else can achieve, which is just an empty mind. How did you get into this? How did you become Spider-Dan? You know, a lot of people have asked me that question, and it's really an interesting story because before I climbed my first building,

trust me, building climbing was the last thing on my mind. Like many people, I'd walk to a city, like in Las Vegas, for example. And I would look up the towering skyscrapers, and I'd go, wow, they're just so beautiful, the reflective glass, the sheerness of it. But I never once thought about climbing a building until the MGM Grand Hotel Fire in Las Vegas back in 1980. What happened then?

Well, I was watching the fire, like many people. And because I was from Maine, I was born and raised in Cape Orpice, Maine on a street called Fisher's Lane. And we had an volunteer fire department. So when I saw the fire and I saw how the fire department was having a hard time reaching the people, trapped in the middle, there was literally hundreds of people on the balconies and helicopters over and above, I thought that maybe I could offer some assistance. You know, it was just a natural response. The police officer obviously had a different opinion, and because it wasn't a firefighter,

it kept me behind the lines, but that all changed when we watched the woman fall to her death when she was trying to down climb a knotted rope abetted, you know, bed sheets. And so we watched her fall, and it was just like that changed everything. hang. So I was brought to a fire chief, and the fire chief, I told them what I thought we could do, because what we didn't use Somany Valley is that in Someday Valley, if someone got trapped on the side of the cliff, they'd use helicopters to get to them on the side of the cliff. So I witnessed a dramatic helicopter rescue in Someday after I climbed it and explained it to the fire chief, and he didn't want to risk his men to such a dangerous endeavor, and they asked me to be taken away. So I was taken away,

but the following day I went to another fire station and I really felt like I need to talk to someone about this because some of the ideas that we have in rock climbing could be incorporated on these buildings in terms of how we would rescue someone. And he told me, at the end of it, he goes, you know, that's interesting. So what department are you with?

And I said, I'm not with any department. He says, well, are you a firefighter? And he said, I said, no. And he says, well, who the hell are you? And I said, I'm Dan Goodwin. He goes, well, let me ask you. have you ever climbed a building? And I thought about it.

No, I've not climbed a building. So, well, until you do, don't tell me how to fight fires and rescue people in high-rise buildings. Do I make myself clear? He made himself perfectly clear. And as I walked out the door, I'm like, for the first time of my life, I'm thinking about climbing a building.

That's how it started. You went on to climb buildings, including the building that's, I mean, just almost across the road from where I'm talking to you right now, the CN Tower. You did this in 1986, the fashion was different, the hairstyles were different. The video exists to show that online.

Tell me about going up the sea and tower twice. What was the hardest part of that? Well, you know, a little background on that is that climbing was going through an evolution. You know, at the first it was so everyone was just going through a process, even on rock climbing, trying to figure out how to free climb everything. I know we went through generations where everyone was just aiding their way up, pounding petons into the cracks and making the way to the top. And that was the goal at one time.

And then it shifted. Slowly, climbers started thinking it's no longer about getting to the top. It's how you get to the top. And so by the time I got to the C and Tower, I was perfecting free climbing. I was free-solen quite a bit, actually. And I looked at the building and I knew that some other climbers had been on it. And I thought the highest level, what's the highest level? And the highest level was just walking up to it and just doing it, just with my hands and feet.

So getting on that, I really didn't know what I was going to encounter, what the moves were going to be like, or how tired it was going to be by the top. The thing with building climbing, which is really uniquely different than rock climbing, is that rock climbing, you look at it, it's kind of like trying to figure out a puzzle.

And every move is different than the other. And oftentimes, most of the time, everyone has a rope tied to themselves. So you try to minimize the danger as much possible. but in this case on the CN tower there was no rehearsals there's no tarproping and so I didn't that was all unknown

the only thing I did know is that I was going to repel back down and so about 10 floors up I'm still hearing all the people cheering me on you know about 20 floors up all of a sudden I don't really hear anybody and all of a sudden I enter what we call the death zone

the death zone and in the death zone where you know that there's no possibility of survival if you fall, something magical happens. And it's different for everybody. And for me, because, you know, there's so much adrenaline, you know, people say, are you afraid?

And I'm honest about it. I said, yeah, actually, I'm pretty much terrified. You know, but I also know something magical happens to me, and it does to pretty much all climbers when they even climb with ropes. They talk about the fear factor of taking a fall. You're, you know, something kicks in. and it's that fight or flight syndrome that takes out. And all of a sudden, you have all this adrenaline pumping through your system,

and you can feel it in your muscles. You just start twitching in. It's just like all of a sudden you've got all this endorphins, and all of a sudden you're no longer feeling pain. And you enter what we call the zone. And in the zone, everything, you get tunnel vision. You're no longer here in the crowd. You no longer seeing anything below you or above you.

It's just like you just got this window around you. It sounds addictive in some ways, but you don't do this anymore, right, because of the danger. Yeah, my last climb was in 2014 for Stanley's Superhumans. My wife won't allow me to climb anymore. Trust me, there's a part of me when I watch Alex. I go, God, that'd be fun to get back. I felt like I would love to have done that climb. But my wife would never have let me.

So I'm out of the business. I have to let you go. But do you worry? I mean, this Netflix special has been watched by a lot of people around the world, and he's got a lot of attention. Do you worry that there could be an increased interest and activity in what is a really, really dangerous thing to do? Oh, of course. There's definitely an increase of activity happening. There's climbers coming out of the woodworks.

Trust me, the genie has been taken out of the bottle, and we're going to see more of it. So what would you say just very briefly? What would you say to somebody who is interested in this? What do they need to know? One, unless you can recline at a super high level, like, for example, for climbers out there who happen to be, listen, when I did many of my clients, I was free solo at a level like 512D, which is considered difficult. And so unless you can climb at that level and be super slow and super confident, super confident. you should need me thinking about it. My God, it's not if you'll die.

You will die. And I would hate to see that happen. I know it's going to happen because the genies out of the bottle now with Netflix. So I guess we'll have to wait and see. But don't try this at home. But I really, I don't recommend anyone tries it because seriously, I mean, I look back on what I did. I feel, that's why I wrote the book on Tethered that's coming out in May.

And for those who are really interested, just please visit my website at dangoodwin.com. Dan, good to talk to you. Not a lot of people have the insight into what this is like, like yourself. So I appreciate you being here to describe what it's like to go to the side of a building. Thank you.

Thank you, Matt. Thank you so very much. And again, thank you to everyone in Canada. I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful day. That's Dan Goodwin. Spider-Dan, former Urban Free Solo Climber, the author of the upcoming book, Untethered, when Success is Your Only Option.

Yes, 40 years ago, He free climbed up the side twice of the CENT Tower. This has been the current podcast. You can hear our show Monday to Friday on CBC Radio 1 at 8.30 a.m. At all time zones, or you can also listen online at cbc.ca.ca. Or on the CBC Listen app or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening.

For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca slash podcasts.