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Canyon Cliffhanger takes shape
$3.6-M clifftop walkway a new tourist attraction James Weldon jweldon@nsnews.com
“$3.6 million,” says John Stibbard, vice-president of operations for Capilano Suspension Bridge, on a recent tour of the private park’s latest expansion. “A good portion of that was figuring out how the hell to build this thing.”
Stibbard is standing on the 50-centimetre-wide woodand-steel Cliffhanger walkway his company is installing near the top of Capilano Canyon just north of the main visitor centre. The narrow platform, which hangs precariously over a 90-metre drop, is still not complete. The part that’s missing is the railings. But Stibbard, unlike the writer he showed around the site Wednesday, seems entirely unconcerned. Wandering out onto a suspended walkway is easy, he explains. Building it, it seems, is the hard part. ••• NEWS photo Mike Wakefield Stibbard came up with the idea for the Cliffhanger JOHN Stibbard, vice president of operations for Capilano Suspension Bridge, peers over the edge of the company’s partially complete Cliffhanger project when he and a friend attraction. The $3.6-million suspended walkway went through 12 redesigns before it was finally installed on the east side of Capilano Canyon. rappelled into that portion of the canyon on an excursion three years ago. The ferny cliff environment appealed to him, he said. Stibbard decided there must be a way to allow the public access. After consultation with engineers, an environmental towards a new era in the institution’s history. consultant and District of North Vancouver staff, the company Benjamin Alldritt “It’s fantastic news,” said gallery director Reid Shier. “It’s really put a proposal before council in July 2009. The idea, its backers balldritt@nsnews.com an extraordinary act of generosity on Yosef’s part. It’s amazing what explained, was to give visitors a close-up view of an area they would otherwise never see, teach them something about that AS North Vancouver’s Presentation House Gallery he’s committed to. One donation would be generous enough but to part of the ecosystem, and, in essence, to scare the bejesus out presses forward with plans for a brand new facility, a make it a decade long is really singular.” Wosk, an ordained rabbi and senior professor at Simon Fraser of them. Vancouver philanthropist has gifted the photography University, has made a variety of significant contributions to cultural In a report to council, district staff expressed approval of gallery with a decade-long commitment worth institutions around the province. He was named to the Order of the company’s plans to minimize the structure’s ecological $250,000. British Columbia and has won several further honours for his impact — Capilano Suspension Bridge estimates Cliffhanger’s Yosef Wosk announced that he will donate $25,000 to the gallery See Walkway page 3 every year for 10 years, a gift that will be invaluable as it moves See Wosk page 3
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N. Van gallery scores decade-long gift
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