Grand Canyon Skywalk set to open in 15 days!!!

**Sojiita** · March 5th, 2007, 01:42 PM

What it will look like(glass walls and glass bottom on the walkway):

Under construction:

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Updated: 35 minutes ago
GRAND CANYON WEST, Ariz. - Plans to perch a walkway over the rim of the Grand Canyon are dividing the American Indian nation that owns the land, with backers calling it a fount for valuable jobs and opponents condemning it as a desecration of a sacred landscape.

A private developer from Las Vegas is building the $40 million dollar, horseshoe-shaped, walkway, dubbed the Skywalk, with the permission of the Hualapai tribe on ancestral lands abutting the southern rim of the canyon in Arizona.

The concrete and steel pathway is being paved with 90 tons of toughened glass. It will be cantilevered 70 feet out over the lip of the rim to offer steely-nerved visitors a dizzying glimpse of the Colorado River valley almost a mile beneath their feet.

Supporters say it will create hundreds of jobs for tribal members on the sprawling pine-covered reservation, home to some 2,000 people, where poverty is rife and unemployment stands at about 50 percent.

Dollar signs obstruct view?
But traditionalists say the construction violates the hallowed natural landscape of the canyon, which is central to the tribe's creation myths. According to tradition, the Hualapai's ancestors emerged from the plunging gorge; some elders believe their blood stained parts of it a deep red.

"The canyon is sacred ground and our ancestors' bones are buried there," said Dolores Honga, 71, who has performed ritual dances on the lonely, wind-swept rim for decades.

"You have to love the land ... and not see it with dollar signs in your eyes," she told Reuters.

But the Skywalk is near completion and set to be inaugurated by former astronaut and lunar voyager Buzz Aldrin on March 20.

Although the Hualapai Indian Reservation runs for more than 100 miles along the Grand Canyon, the tribe has so far failed to woo many of the 4 million paying visitors who trek there each year.

$25 a walk
Sheri Yellowhawk, who oversees the tribe's business arm, hopes that the Skywalk will lure up to 500,000 tourists in the first year alone, shelling out $25 a time to walk out over the yawning abyss.

The project will create 150 new jobs for local people over the next two years, she believes, and could parlay into a larger-scale development in years to come, including a 300-room hotel and restaurant at the site, about 100 miles east of Las Vegas.

"I don't see it as desecration ... I believe that it is a safe, unique means of seeing the canyon, and a catalyst for the future development of the nation," Yellowhawk told Reuters.

With less than a month until the inauguration, tribal chairman Charlie Vaughn said the dispute over the project has given him sleepless nights.

But faced with the need to fund projects including a court house, a day-care center for the elderly and a fire department, he stands firmly behind the venture.

"I felt the Skywalk was in the best interests of the tribe," he told Reuters as he stood at the construction site, with tour helicopters wheeling far below him in the gorge.

"But let's move back from the rim with future development and preserve the beauty of the canyon."
Grand Canyon Skywalk divides tribe - U.S. Life - MSNBC.com
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This thing is going to have a GLASS BOTTOM on the walkway!!!! YIKES! scary!!!

**greysfang** · March 5th, 2007, 01:44 PM

I really HATE that they are building on such a beautiful site. The Grand Canyon doesn't need any help, it is perennially in the top 5 of tourist attractions in the world.

**Sojiita** · March 5th, 2007, 01:47 PM

^^ I don't think it is going to hurt it..it is only 70 feet out..and the Canyon is up to 18 miles across and over 125 miles long..it is like a speck really. I think it is small enough to not be harmful to the Canyon. Just my opinion of course.

If I was out there I would pay the $25 to go out on it!

*My God..given that it is on Indian land..they could be putting a huge glitzy neon CASINO on the site..!!! Now THAT would be egregious for the canyon.*

**WickedHo** · March 5th, 2007, 01:51 PM

That skywalk is precisely for people like you, greysfang.

It's for people that want to immerse themselves in the grandeur of the canyon.

Ain't no damn way I'ma use it, tho.

**greysfang** · March 5th, 2007, 02:08 PM

Originally Posted by WickedHo

That skywalk is precisely for people like you, greysfang.

It's for people that want to immerse themselves in the grandeur of the canyon.

Ain't no damn way I'ma use it, tho.

No thanks. If I want to immerse myself in the canyon again, I will either hike or raft like I have before.

**Dean James** · March 5th, 2007, 02:08 PM

There is no way on Earth or in hell I'm ever going to walk on that thing. Heck NO. *heights are skerry*

**Sojiita** · March 5th, 2007, 02:18 PM

I actually like the design. The walk itself is minimalist and just glass and earth-colored concrete. The buildings it is coming out of are made to look like a small clifftop pueblo or the like. I think given that they were going to do it at least the design was sensitive to the site and very toned-down.

*the only problem would be that when I am high up next to a precipice I get an almost uncontrollable urge to hurdle myself over the edge. I really had that bad at Niagara Falls. Nearly threw myself over the Horseshoe Falls...*

**Mel1973** · March 5th, 2007, 02:35 PM

I'd do it, but I'd walk pretty gol-damned fast!

**shedevilang** · March 5th, 2007, 03:03 PM

nope notta hell no

**WickedHo** · March 5th, 2007, 03:09 PM

Originally Posted by greysfang

No thanks. If I want to immerse myself in the canyon again, I will either hike or raft like I have before.

Hiking and rafting ain't the only two ways to enjoy the canyon. Gawd. What if you're a fatty fat fat fatty or can't swim? Let the people have their skywalk, dammit! *shakes fist*

**WickedHo** · March 5th, 2007, 03:10 PM

Originally Posted by Sojiita

*the only problem would be that when I am high up next to a precipice I get an almost uncontrollable urge to hurdle myself over the edge. I really had that bad at Niagara Falls. Nearly threw myself over the Horseshoe Falls...*

Oh my god, me too!!

**greysfang** · March 5th, 2007, 03:11 PM

Originally Posted by WickedHo

Oh my god, me too!!

Me three, but only over water, which is why I'm not a fan of bridges.

**A*O** · March 5th, 2007, 03:20 PM

I agree that the design is very sympathetically done but there is NO WAY IN HELL I'd go near it. Just looking at it gives me palpitations.

**WickedHo** · March 5th, 2007, 03:21 PM

It makes me want to pee a little.

**bella** · March 5th, 2007, 03:25 PM

I think I'd go on it. I went to the Grand Canyon a couple of months ago, and it was so spectacular. We rafted and flew over it but this would be another great way to see it, so yeah. For some reason, I think I would be less hesitant if the bottom wasn't made of glass.