With Yahoo recognition, it’s high times for Grand Canyon Skywalk

By John Katsilometes

Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010 | 12:52 p.m.

It's shaped like a lucky horseshoe, its floor is made of thick glass, and it juts highly over one of the world's most famous landmarks.

It's a widely recognized attraction, this Grand Canyon Skywalk, and Yahoo! Travel has taken notice, too. The Skywalk is listed among its World's Coolest Observation Decks. The $30 million Skywalk, which opened in March 2007, is about 120 miles southeast of Las Vegas on the west rim of the famed chasm.

Though not presented numerically, the list numbers 10, total, and the Skywalk sits fourth in line, behind the 124th floor terrace of the Burj Khalifa building in Dubai (the world's tallest building at more than 2,700 feet); the Wills Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) in Chicago; and the Guangzhou (China) TV & Sightseeing Tower, a 2,000-foot tower so impressive that it made the list even though it won't open to the public until November. (See the entire list here.)

Of the Skywalk, which was built only after Hualapai Indians consented to allow investors to develop the attraction on their land, Yahoo's Karrie Jacobs writes, "Whose idea was this? Cantilevered way, way out over the Grand Canyon's west rim, with the Colorado River some 4,000 feet below, this U-shaped glass bridge is arguably the world's highest observation deck. It's certainly the most mind-blowing one."

She also notes that deck visitors are issued slippers to wear over their shoes so they won't blemish the glass floor. Hate to mar that view, you know?

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