Columbia Ice Field – Canada

The Columbia Ice field is a 325 square km ice field located on the border of Banff and Jasper national parks. In addition to covering a huge area, the depth of the ice field also ranges from 100 to 365 meters. At the Athabasca Glacier, the most visited glacier in North America, it is possible to drive up on the glacier in specialised Terra Buses in order to explore a small area of the glacier. At the bottom of this glacier there is a visitor center where you can book tours on the glacier as well as tours to the nearby skywalk.

 

We decided to start with the skywalk, which was a bit further up the road. The bus driver provided some information along the way. The most fascinating being about the piles of dirt and small rocks all the way to the other end of the visitor center, indicating where they glacier has been in the past.

 

At the skywalk I was given an audio guide, and told to follow a small pathway out towards the skywalk itself. Just as I stepped out I was too distracted by the scenery, the massive ice sheet up ahead and the deep valley below, to pay attention to where I was going. I had taken some photos and I started listening to the audio guide and reading all the signage and information put up along the way, and I learnt so many interesting things! Walking along I did keep getting distracted by the stunning scenery, there were even small waterfalls running into the river below.

 

The skywalk itself is perched 280 meters above the Sunwapta valley, and with a glass bottom it is not for the faint of heart. The view from the skywalk is absolutely amazing, whether you are looking up at the mountains and ice, or down at the valley, either thought the glass floor or the outside of the skywalk. You could really see how the glaciers have dug out the landscape over the years, creating the beautiful valley that is there today. While I could have spent even more time just admiring the scenery, it was time to head back to the visitor center and the glacier itself.

 

In order to get to the Athabasca Glacier you have to take a regular bus up to the bottom of the glacier. Here you change to a Terra Bus, especially made for driving on glaciers. Only 23 exist today, 22 at the Athabasca Glacier and one at the McMurdo Station in Antarctica. The drive up onto the glacier itself was very bumpy, and at one point extremely steep, but we made it in the end and were given 45 minutes to explore a small area of the glacier.

 

 

Stepping off the bus we headed up the glacier along with everyone else to get some nice shots of the glacier coming down from the mountains. There was also another massive hanging glacier coming off one of the surrounding mountains, which I must admit I found more interesting to photograph than the glacier I was currently on. There were also several small melt water streams, and the water was definitely refreshing to drink. There was even a sign that had fallen into one of the streams.

 

We also headed down towards the perimeter at the bottom of the busses, a perfect place to people watch, especially as quite a few people struggled with staying on their feet (I guess this is where I point out that my Norwegian upbringing is good for some things, like asking on ice). This spot also provided less people, and some pretty awesome views towards the end of the glacier. We could even see a group of people hiking on the glacier further down, something our guide told us was pretty dangerous thanks to the ever-changing nature of the glacier.

 

45 minutes later, cold but happy and with a camera filled with awesome pictured it was time for the bumpy ride back down to the visitor center.