The Ultimate Thrill Ride – Dangling on the Edge of a Canyon in a Pneumatic Swing

Located on the edge of a canyon, 1,300 feet above the Colorado River, the Giant Canyon Swing at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park is definitely not your playground swing set. But if you’re an adrenaline junky this might very well be your dream come true.

Glenwood Springs is a small Colorado town famous for its wide variety of family-oriented attractions. In 2011, USA Today named it the “Most Fun Town in America”, but the Giant Canyon Swing isn’t the kind of ride most parents would ever want their children to go on. This metal beast is perched on the side of a cliff 400 meters above the Colorado River and sends up to four passengers flying 112 degrees above the horizon at about 50 miles per hour. At the highest point, all thrill-seekers can see is the seemingly endless drop below them, which causes them to scream in excitement, fear or both. The swing’s creator, 41-year-old Steve Beckley has only tried it once, and has been too scared to try it again ever since, but he gets a kick out of seeing other’s faces and hearing their screams during the 60-second ride.

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Photo: Glenwood Caverns

The original version of the Giant Canyon Swing wasn’t extreme enough for Berkley, as it didn’t take passengers too far into empty space, and was a lot tamer, so in 2011 he replaced it with a longer pneumatic machine that one terrified fan describes as “the scariest ride I have ever done”. In order to ride this frightening swing, passengers must first sign a release of liability waiver, and riders under 18 must have their parents’ or a guardian’s signature on the document. To save time on location, you can download the waiver from the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park website and fill it out in advance.

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Photo: Glenwood Caverns

We recently featured a similar if more rudimentary swing in Ecuador called the Swing at the End of the World, but I can’t decide which of the two looks more dangerous.

 

Sources: Sports Grid, Metro.co.uk