Another Skywalk

Canada now has a Skywalk similar to the one the Hualapai Indian Nation built over the Grand Canyon. 

This one overlooks the ice fields in Jasper National Park. 

Construction on Brewster’s Glacier Skywalk, a glass-floored steel observation deck extending 30 meters over the valley on the Icefields Parkway, will be completed this week or next.

All that remains to be done is the installation of six interpretive stations along the 400-meter path leading to the observation deck in the spring.

Visitors will still have to wait until May 1 for the Skywalk to open for its inaugural season. Tickets will cost $25 for admission to the platform, but walking the trail is free.

The project was opposed by some environmentalists and Jasper residents concerned about the ecological impact and the privatization of a public national park site.

“It adds nothing to the true visitor experience,” said Sean Nichols, conservation specialist with the Alberta Wilderness Association. “You can see the glaciers and the wildlife perfectly well without those sorts of intrusive development that really degrades the habitat and causes significant disturbance to the animals that live there.”

The project passed a federal environmental assessment in 2012 and a project spokesman says the finished Skywalk proves its proponents right.“From an overall footprint standpoint, it’s like putting a bridge on a highway,” he said. “Unless you can tell me where the oil is spewing and the greenhouse gases are being created.”

The walk will be accessed via the tourist company’s nearby Icefield Centre. Public parking at the site will be closed, but the company will ferry visitors to a free viewpoint or a paid interpretive walk. Brewster hopes the attraction will double visitors to the site, which was formerly a roadside pullout on the highway at Tangle Ridge and a popular spot for sightseers.

Meanwhile, the Grand Canyon Skywalk has not generated anything near the cash flow the Hualapai had anticipated.  Tourists who have braved the almost-impassible road to the site complain about the ride, the nearly total lack of facilities, the price (Ultimate Entry Package - $70.95* plus tax, $8 impact fee & $3 fuel surcharge) and the fact that, once they get there, cameras are not allowed on the Skywalk.

The Eagle Point Skywalk has been (and is) the subject of so many lawsuits, the only ones getting rich are the attorneys.

Even so, it looks like these glass-floored skywalks are a trend.  I can visualize one in South Louisiana soaring almost ten feet over the swamp.