Columbia Icefield and Athabasca Glacier

About this place

The largest icefield in the Rocky Mountains, on the border of Banff and Jasper national parks, from which several glaciers descend, best known the Athabasca Glacier, whose toe reaches close to the Icefields Parkway, making it one of the most accessible glaciers in North America. The signature experience here is riding onto the ice itself in the giant big-wheeled Ice Explorer vehicles, which carry visitors down a steep slope onto the glacier's surface, where they walk on ice tens of metres thick and drink pure meltwater. Tickets usually include the Skywalk, a glass-floored platform suspended about 280 metres above the Sunwapta valley. Along the road, markers show the glacier's retreat over the decades; it has drawn back about one and a half kilometres since the late nineteenth century. The experience runs from 1 May to mid-October 2026 at a dynamic price from about C$109 per adult, per visitor guides, plus a Parks Canada pass. It is about three hours' drive from Banff, so a full day trip. Never walk onto the glacier alone, as it has dangerous hidden crevasses.