[pscates2.0]

Received an e-mail from my sister last night, talking about this. It was one of those forwarded things, passing through about 18 bazillion people before it got to me. That instantly sets of my "urban legend/bullcrap" alarm, so I go to Snopes, to see if there's anything on it:

Knock me over with a feather:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/architecture/skywalk.asp



Official site (I assume)

And a local Las Vegas news story about it.

Holy. Cow.

4,000 feet high, with a glass bottom. Sticking out with no visible, reassuring support. I honestly don't know if I could go out on it. I know it's perfectly safe and engineered. But still...



What a cool thing! If any of you guys make it there in 2006 (it opens early next year), take lots of photos and tell us about it! Someday I'll have to go ot there and tackle my fear!

[AWR]

Not even for 72 brown-eyed virgins. Nice concept though.

[SKMDC]

Yeah right....I can't even climb the glass stair at the Apple store.

[709]

I saw this over at National Geographic last week, and I'm still really curious of how they're constructing this thing. From the illustration it looks like it only goes out 70ish feet or so, but still. I'd need to see complete plans before I step one inch out there.

This is cool:



Damn.

[alcimedes]

OMG. I think I'd crap myself before I could walk out there.

[pscates2.0]

Exactly. Not having some sort of bracing below just gives me the willies, just on a visual/psychological basis. I want SOMETHING below it to be holding it up!

I'd probably crawl out halfway, pee my pants and have to be dragged back with my eyes closed.



Somewhere, isn't there a skyscraper (I want to say Toronto) that has an observation deck and a section of it is done with a glass floor? Or did I dream that?



The same kind of thing...that fluttering in your stomach, and the feeling of "ohmigosh, what if this glass cracks...".

What a thrill. This could rival some rollercoasters, IMO. I just might have to plan a Grand Canyon trip next year...I can't imagine the thrill/rush that would be.

Who will be the first person out on it? And if ANYTHING went wrong...

At 4,000 feet, there's only gonna be one outcome...gruesome death, followed by multi-billion dollar lawsuits!



They seem to have it worked out and engineered pretty well, according to the info on the official site. It probably is anchored into the mountain by hundreds of feet, in all sorts of complicated, secure ways. It just LOOKS flimsy...and that factors into about half of the thrill/excitement.

[709]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 They seem to have it worked out and engineered pretty well, according to the info on the official site. It probably is anchored into the mountain by hundreds of feet, in all sorts of complicated, secure ways. It just LOOKS flimsy...and that factors into about half of the thrill/excitement.

Yeah, I just got finished reading the links. It does sound pretty sturdy. Still, if I see some Midwest tourist family out there I think I'll wait.

* I live in the Midwest. I know of which I speak.

[sunrain]

That's so cool. I'd do it in a heartbeat.

I'll be sort of in the area next summer.

[DMBand0026]

Who wants to come with me, run to the end, and jump up and down?

[AWR]

Originally Posted by DMBand0026 Who wants to come with me, run to the end, and jump up and down?

That would surely induce pandamonium.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by the official site withstand the weight of 71 fully loaded Boeing 747 airplanes (more that 71 million pounds)

Who here wants to come drive on it with me?

[sirnick4]

I think you are alone on that one Brad

[SledgeHammer]

I had enough trouble getting myself out onto this bridge:



I can only imagine what walking out on that thing would make me feel like.

[Brad]

Well, the Grandfather Mountain bridge here in North Carolina is pretty fun. "The 228-foot suspension bridge spans an 80-foot chasm at more than one mile in elevation."




I can only imagine the Grand Canyon one would be ten times as fun.

[pscates2.0]

Here's a question...HOW, exactly, do/did they build the Grand Canyon one? Out on an isolated precipice like that, there's nothing to span across to (as on a standard bridge construction). And it's so far up (4,000 feet), there's no using the ground for supports/scaffolding.

Who's the unlucky construction guy who has to take those initial steps out there to weld this or that, 4,000 feet up? Ain't enough money in the world...



Even cooler than the basic idea itself and finished product, I'd be interested in seeing video/photos of the construction of this thing! One piece? Sections? Someone having to crawl out there? Are they sticking cherrypickers out there to work from? What are the actual mechanics and procedures involved in sticking this glass sliver of a walkway into the side of a vertical cliff like that, so high up?



In the meantime, here's a cool picture to give you something to think abut.

[SKMDC]

Originally Posted by Brad Well, the Grandfather Mountain bridge here in North Carolina is pretty fun. "The 228-foot suspension bridge spans an 80-foot chasm at more than one mile in elevation."

I did make it across that one....very slowly.

[SKMDC]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Here's a question...HOW, exactly, do/did they build the Grand Canyon one? Out on an isolated precipice like that, there's nothing to span across to (as on a standard bridge construction). And it's so far up (4,000 feet), there's no using the ground for supports/scaffolding.

Imagine taking a two prong fork and sticking it into a potato, the potato being the canyon wall and the fork being the bridge....at least that's how I reckoned it in my mind....potato/fork.

it all comes back to food.

[Dorian Gray]

The Carrick-a-Rede swinging rope bridge in Northern Ireland, at 80 feet up, was quite sufficient for me thank you!

[autodata]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Here's a question...HOW, exactly, do/did they build the Grand Canyon one? Out on an isolated precipice like that, there's nothing to span across to (as on a standard bridge construction). And it's so far up (4,000 feet), there's no using the ground for supports/scaffolding.

I'd think they'd just construct the U shaped frame before hanging it over the edge. I bet the ends go far back into/under the building and maybe even past it.

[pscates2.0]

SKDMC, I understand that part of it. But where is the "hand" (and the leverage) to swing said fork "into the potato"?



That's what I'm curious about.

Your analogy is probably dead-on...but it's the "how" that intrigues me.

Edit: just read autodata's post...but still. What an undertaking, setting it into place, securing it, etc. Surely somewhere would be some photos and documentation of this.

[SKMDC]

Just like pilings on a skyscraper? (just pound 'em in there) even though the bridge is at 90º the pilings would auger downward.....the structure you see would just be the tip???

[Bryson]

Not the same kind of height, but I know people who work all day standing on this:


Heights never really bothered me, to be honest. Beyond 10m, you're going to die if you fall off anyway, 10m, 100m, 1000m...whatever. Just more time to think on the way down.

[pscates2.0]

Oh, stop being so clinical.

It's not the "height" thing...I can go up in a building or whatever all live long day, no problem. Or walk railed, steel ceiling scaffolding/walkways with the best of 'em. You're anchored. You're on solid ground. That doesn't bother me.

It's that "standing out on something, and looking straight down on a glass floor" part that is unique. And heartracing!



Kinda like a diving board, only with a much longer, less fun trip down.

[DMBand0026]

Originally Posted by Bryson Heights never really bothered me, to be honest. Beyond 10m, you're going to die if you fall off anyway, 10m, 100m, 1000m...whatever. Just more time to think on the way down.

That's not necessarily true Bryson. Although the chances of survival are greatly decreased the higher up you are, it's certainly not impossible to survive a fall of several thousand feet. Eventually you'll reach terminal velocity and it won't matter if you fell out of a jet in highest layers of the atmosphere, or only fell from a few thousand feet.

What I'm saying is that there are many well documented instances of people falling thousands of feet in skydiving accidents surviving, some with few long term effects. I know there are people around here who are into skydiving (scratt?) who may be able to tell us what a typical jump height is.

In fact, now that I think of it, I went to school with a guy who survived a skydiving accident in the military. He jumped out of the plane at 20,000 feet, his chute didn't open, he landed, he broke both of his femurs (among the hardest bones in the body to break) had surgery to repair his legs, and walks just fine now...except he's a few inches shorter (that said, he was about 6'10" before the accident, now he stands a towering 6'7").

[Dorian Gray]

Er, the thing weighs more than million pounds according to one of the links someone gave. I don't think they simply hung it over the edge! ;-) I read something a while ago that suggested the local Indians had an objection to the rock being destroyed by construction, so the design used small 65 mm steel rods to attach the bridge to the rock. After the steel beams were installed to the rock with these rods, the glass structure was added incrementally. This will allow the entire structure to be removed in the future without leaving rock scars.

The reason the structure is so phenomenally over-engineered is to withstand the colossal force of the wind without vibrating. Apparently folks would be scared if the thing started vibrating while they were on strolling around it (even if the oscillation was well within the elastic limit of the materials used and therefore perfectly safe).

[BlueRabbit]

Well, I've been on the Capilano suspension bridge in Vancouver - 230 feet high and 450 feet wide. And when I went there, one of my friends kind of jumped up and down in the middle.

[SKMDC]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Oh, stop being so clinical. It's not the "height" thing...I can go up in a building or whatever all live long day, no problem. Or walk railed, steel ceiling scaffolding/walkways with the best of 'em. You're anchored. You're on solid ground. That doesn't bother me. It's that "standing out on something, and looking straight down on a glass floor" part that is unique. And heartracing! Kinda like a diving board, only with a much longer, less fun trip down.

Yeah airplane no problem...Hancock Building.....every six months or so, There is an "open" breezeway up there too, mesh screen windows, you can feel the wind and the chill, doesn't bother me.
I discovered that my fear of heights is really an open space up high where I can see the horizon fear.
I was fine with the openness of the Empire State Building if I looked down, If I looked out or up I get the sphincter tingle something fierce.
U.S. Cellular Field's upper deck is the absolute worst place for me, they put on an over hang but it didn't help.

[drewprops]

Um, that's Kevin's Watch.
Melen Kurion Abatha and all that jazz...

nom

[thegelding]

reminds me of a story...ha, doesn't everything...when i was a kid of 7 or 8 i was at the grand canyon with my family....i was hanging off a rock over the canyon...my mother was yelling her head off, my dad was taking a picture...might have to dig through my moms photos and find it...mmmm, goodtimes, goodtimes

g



can't wait for this to be built....maybe i'll hang off the end of it for old times sake


nice photo paul...

yeah i would do that in a heartbeat...heights and me are a strange bedfellow...freak me and facinate me at the same time...i get a queasy feeling in my stomach, yet i have to hang off bridges and cliffs and such...sky diving was great, but the plane ride up was awful

[Banana]

If this is going to be reality, I think I'll just sit back and wait until they construct a elevator to moon .