Athabasca Glacier
Sunday 16 June, 2024
Tongue of the Athabasca Glacier, which has retreated far from the parking lot.
With the Icefields Parkway built right next to it, the Athabasca Glacier is one of the most accessible glaciers in the Canadian Rockies. It slides down from the Columbia Icefield, which is at the crown of North America. The Columbia Icefield is a triple Continental Divide. Water flows from it to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans.
Most visitors see the Athabasca Glacier by bus. There was one man who began to operate animal-pulled tours up onto the glacier before it was a national park, bringing 50 visitors per day. A company run by his descendants retains the rights to operate vehicle tours onto the glacier, and has interpreted this to mean that they can drive diesel-fume spewing buses full of tourists up onto the glacier. In July and August, they bring 5,000 people per day. Parks Canada's charter does not allow it to limit the number of visitors to the parks.
We, of course, hiked in from the parking lot.
Eric photographed the long trek out to the tongue of the glacier, the area over which it has retreated.
Eric photographed the buses making the steep climb up the side of the
Eric photographed a crowd of buses and tourists on the glacier's edge.
In Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska in 2011, we had made a very steep climb in crampons, one at a time, led by our guide, onto the Root Glacier. But here, someone placed a board for climbing up onto the glacier. So easy!
Mist above the crevasses high up on the glacier.
Glacial beauty.
Because there was still snow on top of the glacier (and it was still coming down), only a few features, such as this one, were visible. It must be much more beautiful later in the year.
Later in the day, the sky cleared a bit, opening up views of the moraine and mountains above the glacier.
Back in our room, we treated ourselves to a takeout fancy dinner from the resort restaurant.
On to our drive along the Icefields Parkway.