GRAND CANYON WEST, Ariz. - The Hualapai tribe is unveiling its new Grand Canyon Skywalk today, but members of the Hualapai Tribe were invited Monday to preview the Skywalk - a glass-bottomed walkway that juts 70 feet out over the canyon.   A Star reporter tagged along as the members got their first glance.   Nervous giggles could be heard from the hundreds of people in line who were awaiting their turn.   Once people were given their requisite protective booties, groups of people ventured onto the glass walkway, gasping, holding their mouths or hugging each other for moral support.   Some covered their eyes while family or friends led them by their hand.   Others stepped gingerly, tiptoeing along the sides while the brazen and bold walked steadily and quickly across the middle of the glass walkway.   “Oh my God,” some said, and “I can’t do this” as choruses of “Wow” rose over the canyon.   Now and again there was the occasional scream and yelp.   “Some people were really scared. You could see all the way down there and it’s pretty far,” said Abbie Walema, 38, who traveled from Reno to see the Skywalk.   “We were holding onto the sides. But there were a lot of people who weren’t scared at all.”   Suzzanne Rocha, 52, a Hualapai traditional practitioner, didn’t get much sleep the night before heading out onto the Skywalk.   “I wasn’t scared, I was excited,” she said. “And the view, aughhh! It’s so cool. I did feel like it was a bird’s eye view.”   Melanie Davis, from Chandler, had this to say: “Awesome. Beautiful. Breathtaking.”   Randall Mahone, 55, a maintance worker with tribe, said the Skywalk’s opening is exciting.   “We’ve been talking about it for a long time. It feels good to have our name with the Skywalk and to have it on our land,” he said.   Despite being a little nervous, Mahone said the Skywalk was like nothing he's ever seen or experienced.   “It was a little shaky,” Mahone said. “But I kept thinking, ‘Am I really walking on the sky? Amazing.”

GRAND CANYON WEST, Ariz. - For years, a dusty and unpaved stretch of Diamond Bar Road has served as the main transportation artery for visitors going to Grand Canyon West, the economic heart of the Hualapai Tribe's tourism effort near the Grand Canyon's remote western rim. Tribal officials are now hoping that a new $30 million, steel and glass-bottomed walkway, jutting over the canyon's edge, will funnel thousands more tourists to the remote reservation, boosting tourism dollars for the tribe. The Skywalk, which is scheduled to open to the public March 28, soars 70 feet past the canyon's dusty edge and sits about 4,000 feet above the canyon floor. Visitors who aren't faint of heart and are willing to pay $75 can get a bird's eye view of the canyon from the horse-shoe shaped walkway. A Tuesday preview event at the much hyped Skywalk, is expected to draw hundreds of VIPs and news media from around the world. The event features Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, 77, who walked on the moon in 1969 and is now planning to walk over the Grand Canyon. Under construction since mid-2005, the Skywalk has received world-wide attention and has thrust the Hualapai Tribe into the middle of a media frenzy. "This is the only one of its kind in the world, and it’s on our reservation," said Waylon Honga, chief operating officer of the Grand Canyon Resort Corp., which guides reservation business and tourism development. "There’s not much written about us. Now we have the world’s attention." Though the Skywalk has drawn praise as an engineering marvel, it has also garnered criticism as an environmental eyesore. "I think it's a tragedy to put it right on, and over, the rim of the canyon," said Kieran Suckling, a policy analyst for the Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson. "It's one of the seven wonders of the world. It deserves better treatment." The structure has also divided the 2,300-member tribe, putting a wedge between traditionalists and the Skywalk's supporters. "Natives aren't used to having this sort of thing in nature and on the canyon," said Emily Walema, 61, who grew up on the Hualapai reservation. "I wonder what will happen and wonder what the ancestors think about this ... But it's hard these days. I hope we're not destroying or taking anything away from ourselves. I guess we'll just have to wait and see." Despite such criticism, tribal and tourism officials say the Skywalk will succeed in bringing visitors to the reservation and will serve as a catalyst for future growth at Grand Canyon West. The major moneymaker Located on the Hualapai reservation, in northwestern Arizona, the Skywalk is part of a 9,000-acre tourism development. Grand Canyon West includes a themed Indian village, marketplace, a Western town with horseback and wagon rides and helicopter, boat and canyon tours on Hummers. It's considered the major moneymaker for the tribe, whose economy is mostly tourism based. If the tribe had other sources of revenue, tourism development probably would not be the sole focus, said Honga. "But we are a small tribe. We’ve been struggling for a long time," he said. "This is a way for us to improve our lot, and our lives, on this planet, at this time." The entity also operates a river rafting company, offers hunting and camping expeditions, runs a restaurant and the 60-room Hualapai Lodge at the tribal capital in Peach Springs, Ariz. Unlike other Arizona tribes, the Hualapai do not operate casinos, a $1.6 billion industry in the state. The tribe tried its hand in gaming in the mid-1990’s but the venture failed after 8 months, mostly because of its remote location and proximity to Las Vegas. After that, the tribe turned to its most valuable asset - the nearly 1-million acre reservation that includes 108 miles along the Colorado River. Depending on the season, unemployment hovers between 50 and 70 percent and many residents here live below the federal poverty line, tribal officials cite. The tribe is now counting on Sin City’s visitors to come to the Skywalk. "Las Vegas is an attraction and we’re often told that a significant percentage of visitors to the Skywalk will originate from Vegas," said Erika Pope, a spokeswoman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which counted 130,000 people who took trips and air tours from Las Vegas to Hualapai and Grand Canyon West last year. More than 30 air tour and ground-based transportation companies from Las Vegas offer packages to Hualapai. "Tours to the Grand Canyon are really popular," Pope said. "Especially with international visitors. It’ll be irresistible to see one of the natural wonders of the world and the Skywalk, which is credited as an engineering marvel... I think it'll be tremendously popular." 5,000 jobs possible With the Skywalk in place, the tribe hopes to attract 600,000 annual visitors to the destination in its first year of operation. The tribe counts about 250,000 annual visitors compared to the 4.1 million annual visitors who go to Grand Canyon National Park, 242 miles to the east. State tourism officials say the Skywalk combined with recreational activities and the Hualapai’s cultural heritage would bring more visitors to the reservation. In the Hualapai language, the tribe's name means "people of the tall pine" and are part of a regional group of descendants known as the "Pai" which includes the Havasupai Tribe. Pow-wows, festivals and community dances are a big part of the Hulapai's major cultural activities. "When visitors come to Arizona, they talk about the lure of the Southwest and its Native American cultures," said Dawn Melvin, manager for the Arizona Office of Tourism’s Native American Tourism Development office. The most recent figures show that more than 5.4 million people visited the state’s 22 tribes in 2004, according to the state tourism office. Those visitors spent $310.5 million during trips and had a total economic impact of $391 million, according to a 2005 survey by AOT and the Arizona Hospitality Research and Resource Center at Northern Arizona University. That would support about 5,000 tourism jobs on the state’s reservation lands, the survey notes. "I think the Skywalk will drive tourism efforts," Melvin said. "It’s something new, and like any new attraction, will generate buzz...it’s already made a name for itself." The $30 million project, developed through a partnership between the Hualapai and Las Vegas architect and entrepreneur David Jin was dreamed up during a trip to the Grand Canyon during the mid-1990s. It took about a decade to see the project completed and to work out its design and financial terms of the deal which gives the tribe a majority of admission fees for several years, and eventually, all proceeds. Eventually Las Vegas based M.R.J Architects was tapped to design the Skywalk with the glass being manufactured by Germany-based Saint-Gobain, a company that specializes in structural glass for building projects worldwide. Executive Construction Management, also based in Las Vegas, took over construction of the Skywalk last year after Apco Construction left over concerns about liability. At its rollout earlier this month, however, builders of the Skywalk said the structure is safe. Designed to withstand 100 mph winds, the Skywalk features shock absorbers to keep the walkway steady as people walk through. Protective clear walls and guardrails are attached to the Skywalk's glass floor. The deck is supported by steel beams anchored 46 feet into the rock on the edge of the canyon. The 30,000-square-foot structure, weighing 1.07 million pounds, is expected to hold 120 people at a time. To prepare for more visitors, the tribe plans to build a three-level, 6,000-square-foot visitor center at the Skywalk. It will house a museum, movie theater, restaurants, lounges, and a gift shop and is scheduled to open in December. The tribe is also planning a $45 million airport expansion at Grand Canyon West Air Terminal, capable of handling corporate jets and larger aircraft. Other ideas floated by the tribe for Grand Canyon West include opening 40 cabin-style rooms, a 200 to 300-room resort hotel, opening a high-end spa with golf courses and running a cable car or a to carry visitors from the canyon rim to the river. The corporation may borrow up to $100 million for the projects but that would come after the tribal council convinces members to take on the debt. "It’s hard to say how long or how many years it will take," Honga said. "But all of these ideas are doable. It’s not a pipe dream." A long, bumpy road Still challenges exist in getting to the Skywalk. Nearby cities are far about 70 miles from Kingman, 121 miles from Las Vegas, 216 miles from Flagstaff, 253 from Phoenix and 374 miles from Tucson. Visitors have to travel down Highway 93, between Kingman and Las Vegas and turn off Pierce Ferry Road and then to Diamond Bar Road, and travel another 14 miles along a wash-boarded dirt road to get to the Skywalk. Once there, the area has limited water, electricity and telephone service. And though there are a handful of cabins for rent, most of the nearest lodging is about 50 miles away. But those sorts of obstacles won’t stand in the way of people wanting to see the Skywalk. "For the longest time, the Hualapai did not do anything to advance tourism in the area," said Veronica Tiller, CEO of Tiller Research, an Albuquerque-based firm. "While their neighbor, the Havasupai are considered the icons of the Grand Canyon, the Hualapai were a little late in getting into the game." The Hualapai are now advancing with the Skywalk, which will create jobs and jump-start the reservation’s economy, she said. "That’s a positive thing. They’re talking the right approach to drive economic development," said Tiller, who serves as an economic consultant to tribes and is the author of a resource book tracking developments of 562 tribes in 33 states. "They’re not saying poor us... They’re taking the right step." GRAND CANYON WEST, Ariz. - The Hualapai tribe is unveiling its new Grand Canyon Skywalk today, but members of the Hualapai Tribe were invited Monday to preview the Skywalk - a glass-bottomed walkway that juts 70 feet out over the canyon. A Star reporter tagged along as the members got their first glance. Nervous giggles could be heard from the hundreds of people in line who were awaiting their turn. Once people were given their requisite protective booties, groups of people ventured onto the glass walkway, gasping, holding their mouths or hugging each other for moral support. Some covered their eyes while family or friends led them by their hand. Others stepped gingerly, tiptoeing along the sides while the brazen and bold walked steadily and quickly across the middle of the glass walkway. “Oh my God,” some said, and “I can’t do this” as choruses of “Wow” rose over the canyon. Now and again there was the occasional scream and yelp. “Some people were really scared. You could see all the way down there and it’s pretty far,” said Abbie Walema, 38, who traveled from Reno to see the Skywalk. “We were holding onto the sides. But there were a lot of people who weren’t scared at all.” Suzzanne Rocha, 52, a Hualapai traditional practitioner, didn’t get much sleep the night before heading out onto the Skywalk. “I wasn’t scared, I was excited,” she said. “And the view, aughhh! It’s so cool. I did feel like it was a bird’s eye view.” Melanie Davis, from Chandler, had this to say: “Awesome. Beautiful. Breathtaking.” Randall Mahone, 55, a maintance worker with tribe, said the Skywalk’s opening is exciting. “We’ve been talking about it for a long time. It feels good to have our name with the Skywalk and to have it on our land,” he said. Despite being a little nervous, Mahone said the Skywalk was like nothing he's ever seen or experienced. “It was a little shaky,” Mahone said. “But I kept thinking, ‘Am I really walking on the sky? Amazing.”