Just open, this controversial feat of engineering has certainly got people excited about the Grand Canyon again. The Hualapai Indians are hoping this will be the 'wow' attraction that'll bring more tourists to the South Rim, currently much less visited than the West Rim. The Skywalk is a glass-bottomed, U-shaped walkway jutting 20m out into thin air 1219m above the canyon - an elevation that puts the world's skyscrapers to shame. It took some tough talking to get majority tribal agreement to build the skywalk and some still feel it's a desecration of sacred ground, but now it actually in place most are just keen for visitors to come and try it out - if they dare.
The lucky few who've already experienced it reckon it's kind of scary, like floating above the canyon. Those who've likened it to an upscale amusement park ride may not be so far wrong, but they're just being snobbish if they can't see the difference between a stomach-churning rollercoaster and a bird's eye view of possibly the most awesome scenery on the planet. Skywalkers will be issued with special shoe covers to stop them slipping or scratching the thick glass and spoiling the illusion of having nothing underneath them. If that prospect gets your adrenalin going, book your ticket now: the website's been overwhelmed since the media launch. If it makes you feel a bit queasy you could try a flight into the depths of the canyon, followed by a river tour. Or just admire the view from solid ground - a visitor centre and restaurant with patio seating are promised as part of the development.
The walkway had to be rolled out over the canyon at about a centimeter a minute, with huge concrete weights providing a counterbalance; it's held in place now by poles drilled 12m into the canyon wall. This sounds pretty sturdy - and the skywalk is designed to withstand 100mph winds, an earthquake rated 8 on the Richter scale and should support 70 tons or eight hundred 80kg people (they're limiting numbers to 120 at a time) - but the geologists have their doubts about how long the skywalk will last. Not because they think the engineers have got their calculations wrong - no worries on that front - but because the wrong is ancient, highly porous limestone that's prone to erosion, periodic rockfalls are entirely normal. The skywalk could be around for a 1000 years, it might succumb to Nature after only a hundred.