Don’t look down: Alyeska Resort opens new dizzying attraction

Alyeska Resort in Girdwood has a new attraction: the Veilbreaker Skybridges.

People can pay to walk 600 feet across two narrow bridges suspended 2,500 feet above the valley floor. Mountain General Manager Duane Stutzman said demand has been high since the July 10 opening.

“We were hoping that we would get three or four people per tour,” he said. “And we’re selling out.”

Stutzman said they’re training more guides next week, and plan on increasing the number of tours each day. Right now, tours are every two hours, six people each. It costs $150 per person.

Stutzman said it’s an experience most other resorts don’t have.

“A lot of your resorts will do a zip line or roller coaster, but he wanted something different that really showed what the Alaska lifestyle was all about,” he said.

The tours will run every day until the first measurable snowfall.

“We take the bridge apart in the winter, take all the foot walkways off of it, and then just let the cables hang there all winter,” said Stutzman. “We’ll come back in spring, and put it all back together again.”

The tour begins with a tram ride up the mountain. At the top, visitors are equipped with harnesses and helmets, and given a safety briefing. The guides take the group up a short but relatively steep hike to the bridges, where they are clipped into the safety cable and cross, at their own pace, one or two at a time.

Visitors are welcome to take pictures on the bridges, but the guides say that if they drop their phones, they won’t be getting them back.

Ryan Merrill, a tourist and self-described adrenaline junkie from Ohio, made the crossing with his son Caden on Thursday afternoon. He said it was more intense than he was expecting.

“Initially, it’s not bad, but you get out to the middle, you can really feel the bounce of it, you know, and you’re looking down at your feet,” he said. “It’s just straight down.”

But, he said, the view made it all worthwhile.