The controversial Glacier Skywalk is ready to host its first paying customers.
On May 1, the glass-floored walkway, which won an international architectural award in 2011, will open for business at the former Tangle Ridge viewpoint on the Icefields Parkway.
The brand new attraction, built by Brewster Travel Canada, consists of a 400-metre interpretive boardwalk, with a glass-floored observation deck suspended 30 metres over the Sunwapta Valley, and provides an opportunity for visitors to learn about geology, hydrology, glaciology, wildlife and architectural design.
The project was approved by Parks Canada in 2012. Ahead of that decision, there was a significant outcry from critics both locally and nationally, who were concerned about the mountain goat and bighorn sheep populations in the area, as well as the privatization of a piece of the park.
More than 180,000 people signed a petition condemning the project on the online activist network Azaaz.org, and Parks Canada received more than 2,000 comments on Brewster鈥檚 environmental assessment.
More recently, many opponents to Maligne Tours鈥� proposal to build a hotel at Maligne Lake have pointed to the Skywalk as the project that opened the door for further development in the park.
Ahead of the opening of the Skywalk, Brewster鈥檚 interim president, David McKenna, said he hopes the project鈥檚 opponents will make the trek down the highway to check out the attraction for themselves.
He said with a first-hand experience on the Skywalk, many of their concerns will be resolved. They will see the in-depth interpretative materials that have been prepared; the thoughtfulness that was put into the construction materials that were used; the accessibility of the structure for people with all levels of mobility; and they鈥檒l find out that the mountain goat study that鈥檚 been going on for the past three years will continue on for another five.
While describing the experience of walking through the attraction, which costs $24.95 for an adult and $12.50 for a child, McKenna noted that there are multiple 鈥渘odes鈥� where visitors can stop and learn something about the area. These spots begin even before the visitor steps foot on the observation deck.
鈥淭he overall theme is water, so one of the things we do right away is we draw everybody鈥檚 attention to the dozens of waterfalls that are projecting into the canyon down below into the Sunwapta River.鈥�
Visitors will also learn about glaciology at that point, before they carry on to the next interpretation node, which is located in a bit of a cave, where they learn about 鈥渢he pure geology of the area.鈥�
鈥淲hen you leave the geology area ... you walk out from underneath the cave and then you鈥檙e walking along and you come to this big archway, and just before you get to it, you start seeing all of these paw prints embedded into the concrete.鈥�
By following the prints, the visitor is then met by life-sized cutouts of different animals that exist in the park, beginning with creatures as small as pikas and moving all the way up to the grizzly bear.
鈥淚 think grizzly bears might surprise people just how big they are, and also cougars鈥攖hey鈥檙e not the little house cats that people think they might be.鈥�
It鈥檚 at this point that visitors reach the glass-floored observation deck. Once there, people are welcome to stay as long as they like, taking in the sights and snapping photos, and when they are ready to carry on, they move to the last node: hydrology.
It is there that people are connected to Jasper National Park in a deeper way.
鈥淚t really doesn鈥檛 matter where you鈥檙e from, the water from this place does touch pretty much most of the globe on a molecular level,鈥� he said, referring to the fact that water coming off the Columbia Icefield drains into the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic oceans. 鈥淪o if you鈥檙e on any coastal city on the Pacific, Atlantic or Arctic oceans you too are connected to this special place.
鈥淚t鈥檚 sort of the exclamation point of why these are very special places and that we need to protect them.鈥�
To celebrate the opening of the Skywalk, Brewster is hosting its annual Locals Appreciation Weekend May 10 and 11. During those two days, Jasperites are invited to try out the Skywalk, as well as a Glacier Adventure free of charge.
There will also be a formal ribbon cutting ceremony on May 13. That event will include a special performance. 鈥淛eremy Sturgess, who鈥檚 the architect, is so enamoured with the project that he鈥檚 actually commissioned a piece by a chamber orchestra to be played out on the skywalk, on the amphitheatre during the ribbon cutting ceremony.
鈥淲e鈥檙e just praying for great weather.鈥�
Nicole Veerman
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