Grand design allows public to skywalk

A GLASS-BOTTOMED Grand Canyon walkway which stands 4,000ft above the floor was officially opened yesterday.

American Indian leaders, a former astronaut and invited guests walked beyond the Grand Canyon’s edge during a ceremony for the new observation deck in Arizona.

A few members of the Hualapai Indian Tribe, which allowed the Grand Canyon Skywalk to be built on the canyon rim, hopped up and down playfully on the glass-and-steel horseshoe-shaped structure.

Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin declared it a “magnificent first walk”.

The Hualapai, whose reservation is about 90 miles west of Grand Canyon National Park, allowed Las Vegas developer David Jin to build the $30 million (€22.5 million) 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.

“This is going to be our bread and butter,” said 74-year-old tribal elder Dallas Quasula Snr.

For $25 (€18.77) up to 120 people at a time will be able to look down to the canyon floor 4,000 feet below — a vantage point more than twice as high as the world’s tallest buildings.

The Skywalk is scheduled to open on March 28.

The tribe hopes it becomes the centrepiece of a budding tourism industry that includes helicopter tours, river rafting, a cowboy town and a museum of Indian replica homes.

Robert Bravo, operations manager of the Hualapai tourist attractions called Grand Canyon West, said he hopes the Skywalk will double tourist traffic this year from about 300,000 visitors to about 600,000.

Many Hualapai worry about disturbing nearby burial sites, and environmentalists have blamed the tribe for transforming the majestic canyon into a tourist trap.

With a third of the tribe’s 2,200 members living in poverty, the tribal government decided it needs the tourism dollars.