# Who's up for a glass-bottomed walkway above the Grand Canyon? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 27, 2005, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856 "2005-08-27T11:44:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2005, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856/41 "2005-08-28T16:32:39Z")
> [@](#): > > It is designed to support the equivalent of 72 Boeing jets With a B747-400 weighing around 400,000 lbs empty and around 870,000 max, this is something of a reduction in the estimated carrying capacity. But it still sounds dubious. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2005, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856/42 "2005-08-28T18:08:23Z")
How about crawling on it on your belly? It would be like being Superman. Yeah, they need a slide! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2005, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856/43 "2005-08-28T18:21:01Z")
No way. The main branch of the Carnegie library here in Pittsburgh consists mostly of huge, several story-height shelves with heavy glass block floors in between, to let in the light. Now, keep in mind, we’re talking about those thick, industrial strength, wavy, distorted glass. I STILL don’t like walking on them. So no way, could I do that. Hell, when I worked at the local history museum, I took the elevators up only one floor, to avoid the steel grate staircases, because I couldn’t STAND looking down through the grate and seeing the floors below me. ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2005, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856/44 "2005-08-28T18:27:40Z")
My heart started beating faster just reading about it. Completely irrational here, but not a chance my momma’s little boy is putting a toe on that. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856/45 "2005-08-28T19:38:49Z")
> [@Can Handle the Truth](#): > > [More on the engineering aspects.](http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Aug-09-Tue-2005/news/27005517.html) Interesting. This is apparently the same engineering company that built Mandalay Bay. That is the Mandalay Bay that they had to put on _jacks_ because part of the structure was sinking do to calichi (sp?) under the foundation. Suprisingly, I’d still walk on it. Slee ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856/46 "2005-08-28T20:12:26Z")
I like to, but I will need someone to give me a push. Every muscle in my body will be locked solid after about two feet out. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856/47 "2005-08-28T20:16:00Z")
Who is the guy that is going to wash the bottom side of that thing? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2005, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856/48 "2005-08-28T20:28:14Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Who is the guy that is going to wash the bottom side of that thing? My guess is: the least popular guy in the tribe 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2005, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856/49 "2005-08-28T21:59:26Z")
Sure I’d walk on it. If someone pays ME $25, hold my hand and gives me a parachute and maybe a bungee cord just for back-up. Me? Afraid of heights? Nooooo. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2005, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856/50 "2005-08-28T23:12:14Z")
> [@Roland Orzabal](#): > > Not only would I walk on it, but at the apex of the curve, I’d squat down and do the Russian Stomp Dance IIRC kazatski. Back To The OP I just can’t see myself spending $25 for a short walk that guides and other tourists will rush me through. I can see myself sneaking onto the walkway afterhours with a companion. Am I the only one who immediately thought of this? The chance to make love while hanging in the air over the Grand Canyon? ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856/51 "2005-08-29T00:53:10Z")
Not just no, but oh hell no. And neither will **you** if I’m around. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856/52 "2005-08-29T01:52:05Z")
I’ll go on it no prob. Of course, I _like_ the glass floor at the CN tower (1100 feet straight down! Great views of the baseball games at the Dome next door (when the Dome roof is open, that is)). I also like metal-mesh stairs that you can see through. There were several such sets of stairs coming off the publically-accessible roofs of the main buildings at the Ontario Place amusement park, and when I was a kid, I would run up them and look down through the metal mesh at the perspective effects of ten semitransparent landings extending wown towards the lake water… That library sounds… interesting. Now, I get _motion sickness_, but that has to do with motion, not height. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856/53 "2005-08-29T02:12:21Z")
> [@kezami](#): > > If it’s anything like the glass floor in the CN Tower in Toronto I’ll be crawling on my hands and knees, a minute or two after saying a prayer. And I’m not even religious. When I went up in the CN Tower, all of these little kids were jumping all over the glass. I got down on all fours and crawled on my hands and knees SLIGHTLY out onto the glass, just enough to watch the Blue Jay’s game happening underneath the tower. I have never been so terrified in my life. I would have to be on my hands and knees to crawl out onto this, as well. I can’t walk out on things like this. I’ve yet to go up in the CN Tower again in the several times that I’ve been to Toronto since. E. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856/54 "2005-08-29T02:20:34Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > That library sounds… interesting. Well, keep in mind, you really can’t see through the blocks-they’re at least six inches thick, and it’s rather wavy, almost opaque glass-just enough to let the light in. For the most part, I’ve been there so many times I’m used to it, but I still don’t like them. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856/55 "2005-08-29T07:51:54Z")
Sure, I’d do it. And I like DocCathode’s idea. Have to find a girl wild enough for that, though. ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856/56 "2005-08-29T08:02:37Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I feel ill just thinking about it. Yep. Just thinking about it makes my tummy flip, my chest feel hollow and tight at the same time, I feel dizzy, and my privates are making a funny buzz - not the good kind, the kind that if I had a dick and a set of balls, they’d be trying to implode. Maybe I’ll try it. _hurl_ ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856/57 "2005-08-29T12:58:30Z")
If 4000 feet is too much for you, maybe you want to start with a bridge that is [only 230’ feet high](http://www.capbridge.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856/58 "2005-08-29T13:49:19Z")
Absolutely not. I don’t even have a particular fear of heights and _no freaking way_. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856/59 "2005-08-29T14:15:05Z")
The gift shop should make a fortune selling clean underwear. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856/60 "2005-08-29T17:00:35Z")
No freakin’ way. I have a policy of not paying more per hour for entertainment than I make per hour working, and that would be what, a three minute walk? Let’s just say I don’t make $500 an hour. But if it weren’t for the extortion? In a heartbeat, even though the Grand Canyon isn’t nearly the most scenic canyon in the country (that would be the Yellowstone, for my money). I wouldn’t even have any particular problems with it. And I really like the way **Doc Cathode** thinks… If she has a sister, could you introduce us? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-up-for-a-glass-bottomed-walkway-above-the-grand-canyon/318856.md?page=4)