Grand Canyon Skywalk

[jreed13]

http://img500.imageshack.us/img500/6747/gcanyonskywalk9sy.png (http://imageshack.us)

http://www.destinationgrandcanyon.com/images/towers.gif

http://www.destinationgrandcanyon.com/skywalk.html

Grand Canyon Skywalk
Scheduled to open January 1, 2006
Hualapai Indian Reservation

* Juts out about 70 feet into the canyon, 4000 ft above the Colorado River

*Will accommodate 120 people comfortably (How comfortable would YOU be?)

* Built with more than a million pounds of steel beams and includes dampeners that minimize the structure's vibration

* Designed to hold 72 million pounds, withstand an 8.0 magnitude earthquake 50 miles away, and withstand winds in excess of 100 mph

* Has a glass bottom and sides...four inches thick

http://img500.imageshack.us/img500/1577/gcanyonskywalk28ej.png (http://imageshack.us)

[Ike]

Im thinking thanks but no thanks.

[Blue]

What's that Blue building?

[OUAndy1807]

http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=100765
Taipei 101

[Blue]

http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=100765
Taipei 101

Well. They're over-compensating.

"You Americans have such large penis. We build building!"

No seriously, pretty impressive.

[OUAndy1807]

http://www.emporis.com/files/transfer/6/2005/01/329425.jpg
first of all, check out the scale compared to the other buildings. Do you think this was really needed.

Second of all, check out that tower crane on top of the freaking tower.

[jreed13]

All i see is a red x

[Blue]

http://www.emporis.com/files/transfer/6/2005/01/329425.jpg
first of all, check out the scale compared to the other buildings. Do you think this was really needed.

Second of all, check out that tower crane on top of the freaking tower.

Yeah, the scale is out of whack. That's why I made the over compensating joke. It's like, "We have no need for it, but lets build just to say we could."

I didn't notice a crane.

[OUAndy1807]

can we officially call this a threadjack?

[Ike]

thats a lot of takeout.

[TheHumanAlphabet]

I'm thinking the cantilever loads will be great. That will be some anchor drilled into the rock face of the cliff. Don't think I would want to walk on it...

The charge for the walk will probably be expensive...

[salth2o]

I have no desire to walk that "loop of death".

[Sooner_Bob]

Like standing on the edge looking over wasn't scary enough . . .

We were on the south rim about 10 years ago and my brother and I went to take a peak over the edge and my wife and mom about freaked.

I had went hiking down to the Phantom Ranch a month earlier and while we were there someone got blown off one of the trails and well, died and stuff.

[12]

http://www.destinationgrandcanyon.com/images/towers.gif

That is awesome! And are those two freakishly tall people going to be there to make sure nobody gets any crazy ideas?

4K feet... wow! That's taller than an old tall thing, right there.

[VeeJay]

There's got to be a Robbie Knievel angle in here someplace.

[Skysooner]

I might like to visit that placeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee <splat>

[Tailwind]

Yikes! Not for me, thanks.

[mrowl]

I dunno... The Ghost Bar glass bottom I am ok with, but thats about 400 feet...

4000 feet? nah... out.

[TUSooner]

[ http://img325.imageshack.us/img325/303/walterbrennan2nn.jpg ]Yeh, sonny, That'll sure make yer bottom pucker up, heh-heh..[/ http://img325.imageshack.us/img325/303/walterbrennan2nn.jpg ]

No way.

[HoserSooner]

The glass bottom thing would freak me out a little too much. At the CN Tower in Toronto there is a glass bottomed floor, and it makes my stomach twist in knots. Even more so when my kids thought it would be funny to stand on it AND jump up and down.

[OUAndy1807]

if it wasn't safe, they wouldn't let people get on it.

[Ike]

if it wasn't safe, they wouldn't let people get on it.

like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge?

[Mjcpr]

They offering a package deal where you can take the Titanic to Paris and they will fly you to Arizona in the Concorde. Then you can walk out on the Grand Canyon Skywalk.

:D

[OUAndy1807]

like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge?engineering has come a long way in the last 50 years and it's also no longer cool to design things on the razors edge or design like the narrows bridge.

I would be more afraid something like the Kansas City hotel skybridge disaster, where there is a construction defect, bad weld, or inproper installation.

Also, looking at the statistics, I would be more afraid of dying in a car wreck on the way to the thing than I would be of some kind of global structural failure.

[OUAndy1807]

also, that video of the Tacoma Narrows is awesome. I did a study on it for one of my structures classes. Pretty awe inspiring to say the least.

[Ike]

engineering has come a long way in the last 50 years and it's also no longer cool to design things on the razors edge or design like the narrows bridge.

I would be more afraid something like the Kansas City hotel skybridge disaster, where there is a construction defect, bad weld, or inproper installation.


yeah, I know...the reason I bring up Galloping Gertie is that prior to its demise, engineers pronounced its roller coaster like oscillations safe for public enjoyment.....

granted, things have come a long way since then, but Im just wary of engineers reassuring me that a structure is safe. they can be wrong sometimes.

[Cam]

That would be cool as hell.

[Al Gore]

yeah, I know...the reason I bring up Galloping Gertie is that prior to its demise, engineers pronounced its roller coaster like oscillations safe for public enjoyment.....

granted, things have come a long way since then, but Im just wary of engineers reassuring me that a structure is safe. they can be wrong sometimes.How many bridges have you driven over in your life and survived????

[Harry Beanbag]

also, that video of the Tacoma Narrows is awesome. I did a study on it for one of my structures classes. Pretty awe inspiring to say the least.

I used to live up there, and every time I would drive across the bridge I would get visions of that footage in my mind. The Narrows is always super windy, it's just incredible to me that the engineers screwed that one up so badly.

[Penguin]

So, who will be the first idiot to basejump from the skywalk?

[soonerscuba]

Is it really base jumping if there is 4000 ft between you and the ground?

[GottaHavePride]

I'd hardly call a person on that thing with a parachute an "idiot". "Bloody brilliant" maybe. I'd pee my pants on that thing.

[Ike]

How many bridges have you driven over in your life and survived????

plenty. but none of them oscillated violently on a regular basis the way the Narrows Bridge did. it was nicknamed galloping gertie well before its dramatic demise.

[mrssoonerhubler]

They offering a package deal where you can take the Titanic to Paris and they will fly you to Arizona in the Concorde. Then you can walk out on the Grand Canyon Skywalk.

:D

looks fake to me too

[Blue]

looks fake to me too

Sammich. You making it...

[jreed13]

All you people who think its fake, I dare ya to snopes it

[Czar Soonerov]

It's open.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6469941.stm

[Boomer.....]

The article says it costs $25, but I heard on the news that it costs $75. Either way, I wouldn't pay $5 to walk on that thing. Just looking over the side would be fine for me.

[leavingthezoo]

it's $50 to get on the reservation, $25 to walk. you can't skip the reservation for the walk.

[skycat]

IN!

And the KC Hyatt disaster was an engineering mistake, my statics professor used it as an example in class.

[Petro-Sooner]

That would be cool as long as they dont mess up the rocks. :rolleyes: :D

[TUSooner]

[ http://img325.imageshack.us/img325/303/walterbrennan2nn.jpg ]Yeh, sonny, That'll sure make yer bottom pucker up, heh-heh..[/ http://img325.imageshack.us/img325/303/walterbrennan2nn.jpg ]

No way.
That still goes.

[skycat]

No cameras?

OUT!

[dolemitesooner]

No cameras .....are you ****ing kidding me? Where did see that?

[crawfish]

No.
Freaking.
Way.

[skycat]

No Cameras! (http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=18&ArticleID=11617)

[dolemitesooner]

Ok Well at the end of the article it says that thay will places cameras for pictures at a latter date. I understand the whole chipping of the glass thing. Also I would think that some idiot would lean over that thing adn try to take a pic and fall over the side

[skycat]

And by place cameras, they mean that they'll have some hack take your picture so that they can sell it back to you for $20.

F that.

[dolemitesooner]

Thats fine its better than no picture

[skycat]

Thats fine its better than no picture

no

[C&CDean]

And by place cameras, they mean that they'll have some hack take your picture so that they can sell it back to you for $20.

F that.

I'll bet none of you whippersnappers is old enough to remember the reservation kids who'd come up and take a picture with you - with your polaroid - then charge you a dollar.

And I'm not sure why so many of you wouldn't walk out on this thing. I know this board is populated by ninnies who freak out over spiders/bugs/snakes/etc., but I didn't know we had that many people who were just plain irrational. Wait a minute, yes I did. I almost forgot all the idol threads...

[skycat]

I'll bet none of you whippersnappers is old enough to remember the reservation kids who'd come up and take a picture with you - with your polaroid - then charge you a dollar.


Happened in Monument Valley when we went there when I was a kid.

One kid pulled us over as we were driving down the road to try and sell us some junky necklace with a chicken feather on it. We didn't buy, so he said, "Do you have any crackers?" My dad lied and told him no. The kid looked in the back seat and saw a box of Nips (Cheezit knockoff). "What about those?" Mom gets all soft-hearted and makes my dad give him the crackers.

Obviously, this was memory to last a lifetime.

[LoyalFan]

Not only no, but 'ell NO!
Ere this century passes, someone is gonna die when that thing fails or is sabotaged.
I admit I'd keel over before I took a second step onto that thar infernal contraption.
Personally, I think the conversation (Tribal Elders meeting) went something like this;
Chief Two Dogs Wooing: "OK, here's teh plan. We build this thing, let 'em enjoy it until it's full to capacity, then pull a little lever. Can you say 'SPLAT!'?" That'll pretty much even it up re Wounded Leg Joint"
Tribal Shaman and CEO Irving Eats Bear Spleens: "You have my vote, anyone else?"

This is one ex-cavalryman that ain't evAr gonna ride that pony.

LoyalFan
So afraid of heights that he sands his shoe soles.

[yermom]

i'd probably do it for free, maybe for $5 but $25? $75?!

yeah, no thanks Tanto

[sooneron]

I'd do it for $25 or MAYBE $40, but $75 is pretty high for a stroll where they probably keep you moving along.