Columbia Icefield Adventure

About Columbia Icefield Adventure

The Columbia Icefield sits 230 kilometres north of Banff on the Icefields Parkway, which is itself one of the most celebrated drives in North America. The Ice Explorer tour onto the Athabasca Glacier uses modified buses with oversized tires to drive onto the surface of the glacier and allows passengers to walk on the ice.

The glacier is the toe of the Columbia Icefield, the largest ice field in the Rocky Mountains south of Alaska. It is visibly retreating. The markers showing the glacier's extent at various points in the past century are some of the clearest illustrations of glacial retreat available to the general public.

Budget a full day from Banff. The drive each way is 2.5 hours on a road that justifies the time. The tour includes the Skywalk, a glass-floored observation platform cantilevered 280 metres above the Sunwapta Valley. Leave early to avoid the afternoon crowds at the glacier.