Would you do this?

[Melanie]

Nope, not me!


Controversial skywalk in place over Grand Canyon


HUALAPAI INDIAN RESERVATION, Arizona (AP) -- Visitors who have marveled at the Grand Canyon's vistas will now have a dizzying new option: a glass-bottom observation deck allowing them to gaze into the chasm beneath their feet.

The Skywalk, which will be unveiled Tuesday, is being touted as an engineering marvel. The glass-and-steel horseshoe extends 70 feet beyond the canyon's edge with no visible supports above or below.

For $25 plus other fees, people will be able to see 4,000 feet straight down to the canyon floor, a vantage point more than twice as high as the world's tallest buildings. (Watch the view from above the Skywalk )

Hualapai Indians, who live near the rim about 90 miles west of the national park, allowed a Las Vegas developer to build the $30 million Skywalk in hopes of creating a unique attraction on their side of the canyon.

Tribal leaders are betting that people will flock here, braving the rugged terrain -- including a twisty ride through unpaved roads -- to walk its transparent surface. The Skywalk, they hope, will become the centerpiece of a budding tourism industry that includes helicopter tours, river rafting, a cowboy town and a museum of Indian replica homes.

It's scheduled to open to the public on March 28.

The Skywalk has sparked debate on and off the reservation. Many Hualapai (pronounced WALL-uh-pie) worry about disturbing nearby burial sites, and environmentalists have accused the tribe of transforming the majestic canyon into a tourist trap.

Hualapai leaders say they weighed those concerns for years before agreeing to build the Skywalk. With a third of the tribe's 2,200 members living in poverty, the tribal government decided it needs the tourism dollars.

"When we have so much poverty and so much unemployment, we have to do something," said Sheri Yellowhawk, a former tribal councilwoman overseeing the project. "It sounded like a good idea."

Las Vegas businessman David Jin fronted the money to build the Skywalk. Yellowhawk said Jin will give it to the Hualapai in exchange for a cut of the profits.

Construction crews spent two years building the Skywalk. They drilled steel anchors 46 feet into the limestone rim to hold the deck in place. Earlier this month, they welded the Skywalk to the anchors after pushing it past the edge using four tractor trailers and an elaborate system of pulleys.

Architect Mark Johnson said the Skywalk will support the weight of a few hundred people and withstand canyon winds of 100 mph. The observation deck has been embedded with shock absorbers to keep it from wobbling like a diving board as people walk on it.

Hualapai leaders were to be the first to set foot on the Skywalk on Tuesday. They've hired former astronauts Buzz Aldrin and John Herrington to join them. The astronauts were expected to help christen the deck during a brief ceremony.

Herrington was chosen in part because he's a registered Chickasaw Indian. Aldrin said he agreed to attend after reading about the project. And, as the Apollo 11 astronaut famous for walking on the moon, Aldrin said he has no fear of heights.

[Mickey'sGirl]

Not in a million years! THere is a glass floor on the Observation Deck of the CN Tower here in Toronto (some 1100 feet down) -- and I can't even stomach that!

[offwego]

Uh nope..not if they paid me thanks.

I'd be terrified.

[Tinkerfreak]

Only if I was wearing a Depends and someone dragged me out there. I get all shakey feeling just thinking about being up that high and looking down. Yikes!!!!!

[d_m_n_n]

Forget it! I wouldn't be afraid of it, but at $25 a person!?!?!? A hundred bucks for my family to see it? No thanks. I'd rather spend extra $$$ for a helicopter ride from Vegas...something I know they would remember. I understand they are in poverty, but aren't we being just a bit greedy here?

[faline]

Not me! I've stood on the rim on the canyon and looked out across the canyon which I have no problem with. I did have a problem standing on the rim looking straight down. There's no way I'd step beyond the rim to do this!

[2Epcot]

I don't like heights, though I don't have a problem going to the edge of the Grand Canyon, or going on a tall ride. I think I would be afraid, but I would try it if it didn't cost so much. I'm not going to pay 25 dollars to walk out there for 15 minutes, and they won't even let me take my camera.

[Speedy1998]

That was $25 per person plus fees. The Wall street Journal was reporting that it would be $75 per person (if it is right talk about fees). Personnally, I think I would do it for about $5. Any more than that would be too much, especially since from what I read this is not exactely the easiest place to get to.

[2Epcot]

The Wall street Journal was reporting that it would be $75 per person (if it is right talk about fees). Personnally, I think I would do it for about $5. Any more than that would be too much, especially since from what I read this is not exactely the easiest place to get to.

I believe the $75 dollars is the cost to get to the area (entrance fee?) plus the cost to walk on the bridge.

[RedSoxFan]

NO WAY. It looks scary.
But I'll ride every roller coaster out there -- so go figure!!

[pogo]

I'm getting dizzy just thinking about this !

No comments from you, cousin.

[DVC2004]

I wouldn't- but my hubby and kids already said they would! I am afraid of heights and even more so if I had to stand up. In fact I wouldn't even stand- I'd have to crawl back to the solid earth because I'd be too petrified!

[Mickey'sGirl]

I'm getting dizzy just thinking about this !

No comments from you, cousin.

[DMApixie]

I don't like heights, though I don't have a problem going to the edge of the Grand Canyon, or going on a tall ride.

I DO have a problem going to the edge of the canyon. DH and I went to the GC many years ago and I would only get to about 5 feet from the edge before I started to panic. DH tried and tried, but I wouldn't budge to go closer to the edge. I don't like heights on rides either, but it doesn't keep me from riding them.

On a sidebar...the Grand Canyon is where DH & I told our 3DD's we are going for vacation this year. I even told them we are going to this skywalk. What they don't know and will not know until we change planes in Phoenix, is that we are really going to WDW!

[Dsnygirl]

I get clammy hands just thinking about it, but I noticed the info about it on MSN a few weeks ago and have been watching the progress - and I think maybe I would venture out just a little... I went on something similar in NYC (can't remember if it was at the top of the WTC or the Empire State bldg?) and it was pretty freaky. My DH said no, definitely not - he's afraid of heights, and not too proud to admit it loudly!! So, it'd probably be just the girls and I - they're usually up for anything.

[ElenitaB]

My hands broke out in a sweat just reading about this!

Last November on the Disney Wonder we had the rare opportunity to stand on the glass panels the captain uses to dock the ship. I lasted maybe half of a second on it and DS couldn't wait to get off it!

[murphy1]

No way! I get freaked going on TofT! I had to crawl to the window of the John Hancock building, I hate heights!

[mamacatnv]

NO WAY - NADA - NOPE - you couldn't pay me enough. Heck the glass floor at the Mandalay Bay Aquarium freaked me out and it is right on top of the water that is shallow.

4000 or so feet, no way! I read this article this morning and all I could think of was the wording "will support the weight of a few hundred people" what if those people are over weight? Was the "few hundred" based on BMI charts, if so then that is an accident waiting to happen. Maybe they will offer some sort of harness system, I just cannot imagine stepping foot onto this platform...

Glass bottom, what were they thinking? Okay, a glass edge with something major to hold onto maybe, but a flat visually unsupported see thru structure, oh I have to go throw up now.

[Melanie]

"will support the weight of a few hundred people"

I'm a bit confused by this, because I could have sworn on TV they said it could support something like 7 stacked 747s. Maybe I was hearing things.

[Jeremy]

No thank you!
I don't like hights.