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How Hard Is Climbing Taipei 101?

Taipei 101 stands 508m tall.

Taipei 101 stands 508m tall.

How Hard Is Climbing Taipei 101?

Taipei 101 is a stunning building, and it looks rather outrageous to climb. Standing 508m tall, it's an imposing undertaking.

Based on interviews and commentary from Alex Honnold and urban climbers who've done similar skyscrapers, including Alain Robert, who has climbed Taipei 101, the movement itself is generally described as moderate and repetitive, with large, positive features and no single crux.

The climb begins on a relatively uniform lower facade before the tower resolves into its signature eight pagoda-like sections. Each section spans roughly eight stories, on the order of 30-35 meters, creating a repeated vertical rhythm rather than a single continuous wall. Every tier is capped by a balcony-like horizontal break, followed by a continuous overhang that leads into the next section above. Reaching the first pagoda marks a clear transition: from a straightforward vertical rise to a segmented climb defined by ledges, resets, and repeating geometry.

Several of those accounts roughly peg the technical difficulty at around:

5.6-5.8 (YDS equivalent)

It's not a precise grade - YDS isn't meant for buildings - but it's a helpful reference point that helps frame the comparison for us climbers who have never climbed a skyscraper.

To ensure I don't underplay the difficulty of this undertaking and given its sustained overhanging nature, I'm going to settle on 5.9.

Breaking It Into Pitches

In Sendsville, a default pitch is 15 m.

Taipei 101 is 508 m tall, which comes out to:

508 ÷ 15 ≈ 34 pitches

That alone puts it firmly in "big route" territory.

Converting to Sendsville Points

In Sendsville terms:

  • A 5.9 top rope is worth 9 Points
  • A 5.9 lead is worth 14 Points

Given the continuous upward movement and level of commitment involved, treating this as a lead climb feels fairer - though it does not do justice to the significance of doing it without a rope.

So:

34 pitches × 14 points = 476 Sendsville Points

What That Number Represents

The difficulty of Taipei 101 isn't about extremely difficult moves - it's about scale, repetition, and sustained focus. Traditional grades struggle to describe that kind of effort, which is exactly why comparisons like this are interesting in the first place.

As a fun challenge, try to hit 476 Sendsville Points or climb 508m in a single session!

Good luck to Alex!

References