What is the slope of the line described by the equation below?

To find the slope of the line described by the equation \( y - 5 = -3(x - 17) \), we can identify the slope directly from the equation.

The equation is in point-slope form, which is given by:

\[
y - y_1 = m(x - x_1)
\]

where \( m \) is the slope and \((x_1, y_1)\) is a point on the line.

In this case, the slope \( m \) is the coefficient of \((x - 17)\), which is \(-3\).

Thus, the slope of the line is:

\[
\boxed{-3}
\]