Monday, March 29, 2010

Zippity do da ... it won't repace the Harbour Bridge

Last year plans for a zip line across Reversing Falls Rapids were introduced; part of a $35 million redevelopment of the long standing tourist attraction.

SJ Waterfront Development is involved in the plan which included  extending Harbour Passage across the Reversing Falls Bridge: it now looks like the City won't be contributing the funds the group had hoped for this year.   Instead of about $3.6 million, they'll get $1.9 million, according to an article in today's Telegraph Journal.

Where that leaves the plans for the zip line - I don't know.   I mention this because just today I saw a story  on LA Times online:
 Putting some zip into Catalina's tourism
The Catalina Zipline Eco-Tour -- a 3,671-foot-long cable ride over cactus-filled canyons -- is part of a plan to transform the struggling harbor town of Avalon into a leading Southland destination.
Watch the accompanying video and read the article. And get this:   "The attraction is made up of five zipline segments averaging 734 feet in length and connected to platforms. One stretch is 300 feet above a canyon floor.   Riders who pay $89 per ticket will get a hawk-eye's view as they swoop down from a mountaintop to the beach. Because the ride is divided into five segments, one full trip would take about 90 minutes ..."

I also learned that the zip line attraction has it roots in the 1970s when scientists used the technology to study the Amazon tropical forest canopies.
Here's a snapshot, above, of the Falls restaurant taken in the summer, and one below from the provincial archives website taken circa 1900.

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