We Go Zip’ing
The Hualapai Indians, owners of the Grand Canyon West, home of the Skywalk, recently added a zip line to their attraction and invited some tour guides and operators out to try it out. I had never been on a zip line so I volunteered. Why Not?
If you have ever been out to the West Rim, you know they have three main parts to their tour. You stop at the Hualapai Ranch, Eagle Point, and Guano Point. The Zip Line is located at the Hualapai Ranch and sits out at what is known as QuarterMaster Point. When I started to do tours to the West Rim, before the Skywalk, this is where we would take out guests for picnic lunch. A beautiful, but rugged overlook into the canyon and a view of the Colorado River. Plus a side canyon where we would often see bighorn sheep and hawks all around.
So after they suited us up, gave us an introduction to the equipment as well as the guides who would be with us, showing us what to do when we come to the end and all that stuff, they loaded us up on a van and headed out to the first tower. The Zipline is a two-part adventure. The staff was always helpful and considerate, letting us know what they were doing and how safe the equipment is for us with a few fears of, well, falling!
The first line will send you over 1,100 feet (335 meters) to the other side, takes about thirty seconds and goes over the side canyon. Giving you a view of the ranch as well as some of the taller peaks on the distant North Rim. Thirty seconds sounds short, but when you are out there, hanging by a few cables and straps, it was enough to get used to the surroundings and take in the raw beauty as the cold air blew past your helmet head.
It was February morning, meaning windy and cold. My phone app said 39 degrees F/ 3 degrees C, not counting any wind chill. Yea, that’s’ cold. Normally I would have expected to see some wildlife below. But even they were smart enough to be someplace warmer! Yet, there we were, soaring over the open canyon below. Looking at the rough rocks, deep crevasses with varied desert vegetation, and mesa’s as far as the eye can see. The Grand Canyon never disappoints in its beauty and spectacular views, no matter the weather.
After coming to a soft halt and being unhooked by the kindly crew admiring our looks of frozen joy, they pointed us and our gear to the next tower. This one would take us the farthest and over the largest part of the side canyon. Looking down to the end tower 2,100 feet (640 meters) away, I was actually looking forward to this stretch and not having any fear of not completing this alive.
As they radioed to the team below they were about to release us, the wheels started to spin us down the canyon, I was appreciating the beauty of the canyon as well as the thrill of the flite. I can only imagine how beautiful this will look in the spring or fall as the vegetation sneaks out of its hibernation and draws out the wildlife below.
Once unhooked on the end, we waited a short time for the pickup vehicle. Getting a few minutes to look back over the canyon and back up to watch the next group of adventure seekers heading down the line. On the return vehicle, they do stop along the route to let you get a better view of the actual Grand Canyon before bringing us back to the beginning point at the ranch. I always missed taking my tour groups to Quartermaster Point once they closed it off after the Skywalk opened. So it was nice to see it again.
From start to finish, from when you sign the waiver and get suited up to the time you get unbuckled and are back at the ranch, they say is about 25 minutes. It was a great way to wake up and feel energized, I can say that. As a first time Zipline’r, I can say I enjoyed the event, loved the people who were helping and would do it again in a heartbeat. They were always professional, knowledgeable and got those of us with fears of flying, rest, relax, and let them do the work and worry.
[adinserter block=”8″]Please Note: Grand Canyon West is not part of the Grand Canyon National Park and requires a fee to enter.
Details:
- Grand Canyon West is about a 2.5 hour drive from Las Vegas
Click for Google Maps
- Detours of Las Vegas offers daily tours to the West Rim.
You get a 10% discount with promo code “TVT”
Driving? Arizona is in a different time zone and does not follow daylight savings time.
If you do drive, be warned you will drive through the town of Dolan Springs.
The Speed Limit in Dolan Springs is 25 MPH, not 26!
Seriously, watch your speed and there is a school zone.
- Cost of Zipline is $44 in addition to West Rim Ticket Price
- Weight limit minimum of 90 pounds/40.8 Kg
- Weight limit maximum of 275 pounds/124.7 kg
Related:
Links:
- Detours of Las Vegas Grand Canyon West Rim Tour
You get a 10% discount with promo code “TVT” - Need a new action Camera? GoPro 6 on Amazon
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Disclosure: As a member of the tourism community, I was offered complimentary admission and ticket to Zipline with no expectations. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely my own.
After reading such great reviews, I decided to book an appointment for our upcoming trip. I can’t remember the last time that I went on a real vacation. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for people like me who work 3 jobs just to make it in these hard times. I would leave less than 1 star if I was able to. I purchased tickets for the zipline on 8/17/23 for my husband and I. In order to ride the zipline, you must also purchase tickets for entry to the West Rim. I paid a total of $204.00. When I scheduled the appointment, there was availability every 2 hours starting at 9:00 on that day… I was very excited at the opportunity to zipline the Grand Canyon and booked the appointment and scheduled everything else that I could possibly want to do while visiting the West afterwards.
Unfortunately, I received a disappointing phone call from a customer service representative on 8/31/23 (2 weeks after booking) to let me know “we are ending the season early” and “we do not have enough employees”. As I do appreciate vigilance for safety, I feel that informing a person 1 week prior to their vacation that they cannot provide the services that the company posted availability for is dishonorable and unacceptable. On the company’s website, it states “No cancelation policy with no refund as all sales are final and non refundable”(attached below). So, the customer gets penalized, but there is no responsibility for the company to cancel. I requested to speak to a manager at that time and of course I was denied the right to speak with one explaining to me that “the manager is unavailable”. To be fair, the representative did offer me 2 other dates on Saturday (flying in to Vegas from Florida) and Wednesday (flying out of Vegas to home) showing that the “season” was not over, just for me it was canceled, which meant that I would have to get a refund for the ATV ride, a Vegas show, and change a hotel reservation to make it work. I explained to the representative that it was my birthday weekend and that the zipline was going to be the highlight of our trip. My husband I purchased 2 cameras (which cannot be returned now), a rental car, and an extra hotel in Flagstaff to be closer to the Canyon. She told me that she would speak to a manager and that they would contact me. On the evening of 8/31/23, I spoke to my husband and decided to cancel altogether. I sent a polite email to the company notifying them of this huge disappointment and that we wished to have a refund with an attached receipt of the refund credited to my account (because now they are untrustworthy in my mind). The next day on 9/1/23, the office responded “We have received your email. I am going to be forwarding this to my manager for further review. Please allow 24-72 hours for a response”. Plus, Attached to the email was a totally different cancelation policy (see attached below).
I waited a few days for some kind of communication from someone regarding the refund. I sent another email on 9/4/23 re-requesting the refund from 8/31/23. They finally refunded my money on 9/5/23. It took them nearly 1 week to provide me with a refund and it would have been longer if I did not send them a follow up email. After the phone call on 8/31/23 to cancel our appointment, I contacted the Department of Tourism, Department of Tourism in Flagstaff, and the Visitation center at the Grand Canyon, and another reputable source. I am very happy that I had an opportunity to talk to them because they were absolutely angered to here what West Rim Zipline was doing to tourists. One person actually told me from now on just stay away from the West Rim because it is a tourist trap on an Indian reservation, which is governed by itself and “these kind of things happen all of the time”. I am not a person to leave bad reviews, but I have never in my entire life (I live in SW Florida) such unprofessionalism and total disregard for a customer. In Florida, there are exclusions for inclement weather, but never setting a time where they don’t have enough employees to complete a job. I am very happy that people were able to have a great experience and make a lifetime memory, but my memory will be a lesson learned from a shifty, disingenuous company that makes millions of dollars a year on tourists and have no regard or loyalty for honoring their own schedule of availability leading to horrible disappointment.
Thank you for the comment. The skywalk was created by a Chinese tour operator and that is their largest market. And I agree, their mentality is “Me First” at all costs..
In April we took a leisurely drive down to GC West from Vegas & tried the zip line. Excellent, terrific staff & 2 truly great rides. We really recommend the entire experience, even got senior discount & when we said we are 70 years young, we got lots of “awesomes”. So if we can, so can you!
Only down side is the multiple groups of Chinese?Oriental tourists. They have no concept of waiting their turn, queuing or even standing still. One young man actually attempted to push, prod & move me, because he wanted to stand where I was. They can take the edge off the day.