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Glass-bottomed Skywalk opens over Grand Canyon
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Glass-bottomed Skywalk opens over Grand Canyon
A gleaming glass-bottomed walkway that juts out over the edge of the Grand Canyon welcomed its first visitors , with Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin taking one small step for man and one almighty leap for sufferers of vertigo.
The Skywalk, a horseshoe-shaped observation deck extending 70 feet (21 meters) over the western lip of the vast natural chasm in the remote Hualapai Indian Reservation, about 120 miles (193 kilometers) east of Las Vegas, Nevada, allows tourists to peer straight down a dizzying 4,000 feet (1,220 meters) to the canyon floor below through four-inch (10-centimeter) thick reinforced glass.
“It felt wonderful,” said Aldrin, the second man to set foot on the moon after Neil Armstrong in the 1969 mission, after strolling around the walkway with members of the Hualapai tribe. “Not exactly floating on air or walking in space, but it was wonderful. It wasn’t the least bit disturbing – at least not for some of us.”
The Hualapai hope the Skywalk will help bring valuable tourist dollars to their impoverished corner of the Grand Canyon.
Architects say the gravity-defying structure is capable of supporting several hundred people simultaneously and will not be affected by powerful winds that often roar through the Grand Canyon.
Weighing roughly 500 tonnes, the walkway is constructed with layer upon layer of reinforced glass and is supported by massive steel bolts that have been driven 46 feet (14 meters) into surrounding bedrock. Giant shock absorbers also will prevent the structure from quivering under the weight of visitors, architects say.
The project, which took two years to complete, is the latest example of Native American tribes seeking to generate income through tourism. The Hualapai are hoping that the Skywalk will persuade visitors to come to their remote section of the Grand Canyon, which previously struggled to lure tourists with its Old West-style villages and tours.The Skywalk was dreamed up by Shanghai-born businessman David Jin.
The Las Vegas-based investor is reported to have bankrolled construction of the 30-million-dollar project and under a deal with the Hualapai will collect up to half of the revenues from ticket sales over the next 25 years to recoup his investment.
Tickets for the Skywalk, which opens to the public on March 28, will cost about 25 dollars.
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