Grand Canyon Skywalk photo gallery

The glass skywalk over Grand Canyon is inaugurated by Buzz Aldrin. Enjoy the photo gallery.

25 March, 2007

A Skywalk that provides a spectacular view of the Grand Canyon in Arizona, the United States, was opened in the third week of March 2007.

(Scroll down for the rest of the Grand Canyon Skywalk photo gallery)

The glass-bottomed observation deck of the Skywalk lets a tourist gaze deep into the abyss.

The Grand Canyon Skywalk, costing $30 million, was built on the rim of the canyon after getting permission from the Hualapai Indian Tribe.

Here is a video of the Skywalk

The Hualapai (pronounced wall-uh-pie), whose reservation is about 90 miles west of the Grand Canyon National Park, allowed Las Vegas developer David Jin build the Skywalk in the hope of creating a unique attraction on their side of the canyon.

The Skywalk extends 70 feet beyond the canyon’s edge with no visible supports above or below.

For $25 plus other fees, up to 120 people at a time will be able to look down to the canyon floor that is 4,000 feet below – a vantage point that is more than twice as high as the world’s tallest buildings.

To reach the glass-bottomed observation deck, tourists must drive on winding, unpaved roads through rugged terrain. The Hualapai Indian tribe hopes that the Skywalk will become the centrepiece of a developing tourism industry that includes helicopter tours, river-rafting, a cowboy town and a museum of Indian replica homes.

(Scroll down for more pictures of the Skywalk)

Robert Bravo Jr, operations manager of the Hualapai tourist attractions named Grand Canyon West, says the Skywalk is expected to double tourist traffic to the reservation in 2007, from about 300,000 visitors to about 600,000.

Mark Johnson, architect of the Skywalk, says the structure can support the weight of a few hundred people and will withstand winds up to 100 mph. The observation deck has a 3-inch-thick glass bottom and has been equipped with shock absorbers to keep it from bouncing like a diving board as people walk on it.

However, the Grand Canyon Skywalk has sparked debate on the reservation and off it.

Many Hualapai members worry about disturbing nearby burial sites, and environmentalists have blamed the tribe for 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 that it needs the money that tourism brings.

The following two pictures are courtesy www.kingmandailyminer.com and JC AMBERLYN

It took two years to build the Skywalk. Steel anchors were drilled 46 feet into the limestone rim to hold the deck in place. Then the Skywalk was welded to the anchors, after pushing it past the edge using tractor-trailers and an elaborate system of pulleys.