Columbia Icefield

About this spectacle

The Columbia Icefield sprawls across the Continental Divide in the Canadian Rockies, a remnant of the last ice age covering hundreds of square kilometres. Visitors standing at its edge feel the chill radiating off ancient ice, watching meltwater cascade into braided streams below. The Athabasca Glacier, the most accessible lobe, draws travellers who can walk to its toe across a rocky outerrain of recently exposed bedrock — markers along the path show how dramatically the glacier has retreated over the past century. On clear days the peaks of Jasper and Banff National Parks frame the scene in every direction. The sky above is vast and often electric blue, the silence broken only by wind and the occasional crack of shifting ice. It is a landscape of geological time made viscerally present.

When to go

May — Oct, peak Jun — Aug

Getting there

Nearest airport: YEG. Nearest city: Jasper.

Booking options

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