The Bailong Elevator, also known as the Hundred Dragons Elevator, is a glass elevator built into the side of a rocky mountain range full of thousands of sandstone columns that rise up thousands of feet in the Wulingyuan area of Zhangijiajie, Hunan Province, China. It is claimed to be the highest and heaviest outdoor elevator in the world.
The Construction
of the elevator began in October 1999, and it was opened to the public by 2002. The environmental effects of the
elevator have been a subject of debate and controversy, as the Wulingyan area
was designated a World Heritage Site in 2002. The total investment for the
project was 120million yuan, about $20 million.
To build the Hundred Dragon Elevator, tunnels and shafts
had to be dug into the quartz sandstone column carefully chosen to house the
elevator. With five million visitors to the region each year the
area was already suffering from excessive tourism but work went on.
The tallest outdoor elevator in china has set following records
in the Guinness World record Book:
- Tallest full-exposure outdoor elevator,
- World’s tallest double-deck sightseeing elevator,
- World’s fastest passenger traffic elevator with the biggest carrying capacity.
After the project was opened to the public in 2002 it was
quickly shut down temporarily because of safety, rather than environmental
concerns. It reopened in 2003 and now has a cult following from tourists keen
to ride a lift known as one of the most terrifying in the world for its sheer
drop views down to the bottom of the valley.
Those whose fear of heights prohibits them from
taking the lift can instead take a two-and-a-half hour walk up the valley. The
lift ride takes around a minute to reach the top, from where tourists can see
breath-taking views of the area's quartzite sandstone pillars.
World's tallest outdoor elevator pictures, world's tallest, highest outdoor elevator pictures
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