A new tourist attraction along the Grand Canyon is set to open to the public a week from today and promises breathtaking views and perhaps a bit of vertigo. 
Another modern marvel, the Skywalk, is a horseshoe-shaped deck with a glass floor and walls that hangs some 70 feet beyond the canyon’s edge. To avoid the need for unsightly cables or supports above or below the deck, the builders employed a cantilevered beam system.
The Grand Canyon is already at the top of my list for “must sees” in the U.S. and now more so than ever. I’m fascinated with this concept of a “see-through” observation deck 4,000 feet above the canyon floor. Convincing Jenn to come out onto it with me might be a challenge though.
You can read the entire MSNBC article here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17707007/?GT1=9145
Also, I found an interesting video about the making of the Skywalk. The audio is not the best but you can view it here:
http://www.destinationgrandcanyon.com/VIDEO/Skywalk.wmv
Update: The official site is now online. There are some pretty cool images of the construction here:http://www.grandcanyonskywalk.com
Also, here’s an excerpt from the site as to the strength of the platform.
That looks sweet. I was telling my Jenn about it and she’ll probably be as difficult to get out onto the platform as your wife.
Speaking of platforms, the picture looks like the landing platform docking bay at Cloud City. That make me want to vacation there even more.
Perhaps our two families can combine and go on one super vacation!
Yeah, when I explained it to Jenn, especially the glass floor part, she shook her head and said she’d wait in the visitor center. She also said to take out a life insurance policy first!
I’m not fearful of going on it at all, especially since they say it’s strong enough to hold the weight of multiple passenger jets. I couldn’t access the official site to see if there were any new images and the only one I could find is a concept sketch, I believe. It does look very Mcquarrie-esque which would explain the Cloud City resemblence.
I think a cooler idea would’ve been just a glass bridge that goes across the whole canyon. I wonder how long it would need to be? Oh well, I should’ve been at the planning sessions.
A joint-family trip to the GC would be pretty cool indeed!
[i]I think a cooler idea would’ve been just a glass bridge that goes across the whole canyon. I wonder how long it would need to be? Oh well, I should’ve been at the planning sessions.[/i]
Kind of like in the third Indiana Jones movie. They’ll just tell you that the glass bridge is ‘over there’ and then you have to take the leap of faith to start walking across it.
You can go first Bunzl, and then throw some pebbles over the bridge so I can follow.