Dozens rappel off La Fonda in fundraiser for Girls Inc. of Santa Fe
Learning the ropes was easy. Trusting them was another story.
Up on the roof of La Fonda on the Plaza, the 62-foot drop to the pavement didn’t feel like a far distance. The process of preparing to rappel down the side of the hotel, one of Santa Fe’s tallest buildings, was simple.
An attendant gathered participants — known as “edgers” — around a ladder and explained they would be harnessed into two industrial-strength ropes rigged to the roof. Each participant climbed some rungs of the ladder and practiced rappelling a few feet down.
The whole ordeal — a Saturday fundraiser for the nonprofit Girls Inc. in which 60 people raised or donated $1,000 or more each for the experience — didn’t seem like a big deal.
Until you were hanging over East Water Street.
