Taipei 101 was, for a few years, the tallest building on the planet. An architectural marvel, an imposing skyscraper erected in an area prone to earthquakes and typhoons. At 450 meters above the ground, tourists reach an observation deck where they can grab a bite to eat while enjoying views that, this past weekend, were very different. On the other side of the glass, they could see American climber Alex Honnold, 40. Curious onlookers took out their phones to film as Honnold waved to them from just inches away. Only a pane of glass separated them. Inside, comfort and curiosity. Outside, a man risking his life, climbing the building without ropes or safety equipment. One slip and it would be the end.

"I remember entering the refuge and bursting into tears, thinking, 'Wow, we're saved. We won't die now,'" says Marta Valls (Barcelona, ​​1974). She is one of the survivors of the tragedy that, exactly 25 years ago, left nine dead in the eastern Pyrenees, in the Ripollès region, amidst the most extraordinary and fateful weather event ever recorded in the Catalan mountains. Barcelona.

Alberto Ginés (Cáceres, 2002) hangs from a wall with one hand and waits for his photo to be taken. His life is spent hanging from the walls. In 2021, he surprised everyone by becoming the first Olympic climbing champion in history at the Tokyo Olympic Games, when the sport was just making its debut on the Olympic calendar and few people knew who this 18-year-old from Extremadura was. The athlete has been living in Catalonia for years because he wanted to train at the Sant Cugat CAR (Car Park) in Catalonia. A different young man, he has learned Catalan and shows a curiosity for the world that goes beyond climbing walls. This summer, he read De Vigan, Dostoevsky, and Murakami, at the end of a season in which he won World Cup gold, although he narrowly missed out on a World Cup medal. By one move. By a centimeter.

Pablo Batalla (Gijón, 1987) sips a decaffeinated coffee in the cafeteria of the Hotel Regina, in the center of Barcelona. Outside, everyone is busy, but inside the establishment, everything seems quieter. Batalla probably appreciates this, as he prefers to take things slowly so as not to miss the details. This Asturian historian, translator, and journalist, who lives in a town of 40 inhabitants in León, has just published The Flag on the Summit: A Political History of Mountaineering (Captain Swing), a magnificent work that explains how flags and every possible political cause have risen to the top. He fell in love with the mountains in the most beautiful way. Thanks to a father and a teacher who, in his free time, took public school children to the Asturian mountains. "A vocational teacher. He did something very beautiful: he left little messages all along the route, tucked into a small film canister. We children had to search for them, and inside the canister, we found questions and games to learn about nature," he recalls. Now he still talks to that retired teacher and tells him what he discovered while making the book.

The climber and influencer American Balin Miller died while climbing El Capitan, the iconic rock formation in Yosemite National Park in California, his family confirmed. Miller, 23, was streaming on TikTok when he fell. "My heart is broken. I don't know how I'll ever get over this. I love him so much. I want to wake up from this horrible nightmare," said his mother, Jeanine Moorman, in an emotional message.

When they were little, many of them were afraid of heights. They couldn't go on fairground rides with their friends, and when a school trip involved climbing the tower of an iconic building, they couldn't look down. Now they scale the tallest buildings on the planet without ropes.

Silvia Vidal (Barcelona, ​​​​1971) discovered climbing as an adult. Graduated from the INEF, where she worked as a teacher, she changed her life to excel in climbing, where she stood out with solo expeditions and the opening of large walls. She often spends weeks away from home, alone in nature. More than once she has spent many days hanging from giant walls, and has slept in a tent over a large void. Considered one of the best climbers of all time, she is a free, discreet and perfectionist soul, who managed to be the first person linked to Catalan and Spanish climbing to win the Piolet de Oro award in 2021. She is now publishing the book There is light between the strings, an open door to your world.

He will turn 18 in October but he is already one of the best climbers in Spain. Before the state of alarm he left the Sant Cugat (where elite athletes train) to spend lockdown with his family. The sport routine has been keeping him away from home for two seasons. If it wasn't for the coronavirus, now he would be competing in China and looking forward to the Tokio Games.