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Over the Edge: What it’s like to rappel 18 stories down an uptown building

By Corey Inscoe

“What in the hell have I gotten myself into?”

Sitting on the ledge of the roof of the Hyatt House Center City Friday, with my back to the beautiful uptown skyline, that thought kept running through my head. Up until this point, 18 stories hadn’t seemed that high. Now my legs were shaking.

“This is a short building,” one of the support team members told me on the roof. It sure didn’t feel short.

There I sat, workers locking me into a complicated rope system that was going to keep me from plummeting to the ground. Then one foot over, the second, sit back and I’m over the edge.

On Saturday, about 60 people went Over the Edge of the Hyatt House uptown in support of Special Olympics North Carolina. Each participant raised at least $1,000 to get the opportunity to rappel 18 stories down the side of the building. (Even if you don’t get a chance to rappel down, you can donate to the Special Olympics here.)

They invited me and other media members and VIPs — Homer the Dragon went down before me — to also do the rappel Friday.

I’ve never gone rock climbing or rappelled from anything before (including Bank of America Stadium), but the staff took us through a quick training and the system was easy enough to use: Put your hand here, pull this lever, slide down the building.

I came equipped with a GoPro, but it stopped taking video before I flipped over the edge. Technology can be the absolute worst sometimes. I’m blaming it on Friday the 13th bad luck.

Here’s what we ended up with:

Thanks to SONC VP of Communications Megan O’Donnell and fellow rappeller Sam White (she was a pro) there are photos of my descent.

I’m not sure the video would have shown a whole lot anyway. I spent most of the rappel staring at the building. I tried to stop occasionally and look around, but while taking in the beautiful view I would rotate too much and get sideways. Cue panic.

Staff told me to sit up and let my knees slide down the wall. That lasted maybe four stories. At one point, I started leaning too far back and had to stretch my toes out to reach the building. Let’s just say I didn’t make it the smoothest or most relaxed ride.

But the staff took care of me, got me to the ground easily and safely, and held back their laughter at me flopping around like a fish on a hook.

It was exhilarating, looking around and seeing our beautiful city on a beautiful day from a vantage point that I had never had before.

If only the damned GoPro had worked.

Photos: Megan O’Donnell; Sam White; Corey Inscoe

Video: Kennan Banks

This story was originally published November 15, 2015 at 11:00 PM with the headline "Over the Edge: What it’s like to rappel 18 stories down an uptown building."

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