4-May-15 – All it took was courage, a registration fee, a fundraising commitment, and a signed liability waiver, and 55 people accepted a local charity’s challenge to rappel 288 feet down the front of theWit hotel in the Loop on Sunday.

Skyline Plunge is into its tenth year, now held twice a year to raise money and awareness for Respiratory Health Association, located west of the Loop, that promotes healthy lungs and fights lung diseases such as asthma, COPD, and cancer.

The goal this time was $85,000. Each rappeller agreed to raise at least $750 by May 15. Participants ranged from people rappelling for the first time to Butch Smith, who was a First Sergeant with the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division and did his first rappel 40 years ago.

According to Respiratory Health Association, most participants rappel “in memory of loved ones they have lost or in honor of someone who has triumphed over a smoking addiction or a lung disease.”

Rappelling is a controlled descent down a rope. The rope threads through a device that puts pressure on it to slow the descent.

After being fitted with gear that includes helmet, gloves, and two-way radio, participants receive basic training in small groups. Their first rappel is down one floor on the south side of the roof. Only one person can be on the longer rope down to the street, so participants wait on or near the roof on the west side. (Right) Jason Barnes steps onto a wooden plank that leads up to the edge of the roof. The cable he will ride is secured to the building and fits through the pulleys above. The steel bars he will step over are not part of the building but have been set up to help the rappellers.

(Left) Barnes listens to last minute instructions and (above) waves goodbye as he begins his descent.

(Above) Kyle Dalton (left) and his mother, Sheila Dalton, are about to step off.

Ronald Bayer (in red shirt), Head of Demand Planning at Nokia Networks, and a fellow rappeller at about the 26th floor.	Dakota Nicole over State Street and south of Wacker Drive.

(Above) Streckler steadily approaches State Street.

RHA partners with a special events company called Over the Edge to operate the event, held at theWit since shortly after the hotel opened in May 2009. The next Skyline Plunge is scheduled for September 13. The registration fee is $75 up to May 17 and then increases to $150. (Right) Lisa Nick stops for a quick “thumbs up.”  Website: Skyline Plunge