Now that Alex Honnold is safely back on the ground, the Skyscraper Live star’s loved ones can breathe a sigh of relief.
The free solo climber’s wife Sanni McCandless admitted she was glad she was “not him” during Friday’s big feat, recalling her “internal experience” while watching him scale the 1,667-foot Taipei 101 in the Taiwanese capital for the Netflix special.
“I was telling someone that when you really love someone, and you think that they might be stressed, you say, ‘I wish I could take their place, I wish I could take their stress away,’” she said in a press conference after the climb. “But in this case, I was like, ‘Thank god I’m not him!’”
McCandless added, “I knew the second he left the ground, it would all just, not fade away, but kind of get quieter, be more of an internal experience, and then just be joyful. So, I was really happy once it just started, there wasn’t any waiting, and he got to do what he wanted to do.”
Tying the knot in 2020, following his previous Netflix doc Free Solo (2018), McCandless opened up about some of the concerns she has with his climbs since they became parents.
“There are things where I’m like, ‘That doesn’t feel so family friendly.’ For sure, there’s moments,” she explained. “But that’s how partnership works. Everybody kind of speaks their mind, you say your piece, and then you kind of see what decision is made. You try to make decisions as a team, but you also have to respect the art behind it and the passion behind it.
“This project came together in a very cool way, and once Alex made that decision, I remember not being in resistance to it, but just kind of not having it in my mind. And then two months ago, being like, ‘Oh, this is coming up, this is happening.’ I had seen Alex training, and I had seen him preparing, but then he really kind of locked in.
McCandless continued, “So, I felt that in my heart, of we’re liking in, full support mode, whatever happens happens. I’m just here for you. I’m here to problem-solve, support, be optimistic, be positive, make sure everything’s in line. And Alex does that for me in my projects and in my life and my work. That’s what makes us a good team, I think.”
Following the livestream on Friday, Skyscraper Live is now available to watch on Netflix.
Glenn Garner
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