Walk on the Athabasca Glacier in the Rocky Mountains, Canada

*WS 90: Walk on the Athabasca Glacier in the Rocky Mountains, Canada*

The Columbia Icefield is the largest ice field in the Rocky Mountains in western Canada, lying partly in the Banff National Park and partly in the Jasper National Park. It feeds 6 glaciers, one of them the Athabasca Glacier. In 2019 we were directly transported to the glacier and walked on the glacier without the burdensome spikes and sticks. 

From the Glacier Exploration Centre on the Icefield Parkway, we boarded a special snow coach called the Ice Explorer which took us directly to the glacier. The giant coach, the design based on an army vehicle, was said to cost over a million US$ each and could climb up very steep slopes. The depth of the ice in this part of the glacier is around 100 to 250 m.