Columbia icefield Glacier Adventure

If there is one thing you should do when you visit the Canadian Rockies, it is the Glacier Adventure. This once-in-a-lifetime excursion will leave you feeling exhilarated and inspired, with an amazing ride on a massive Ice Explorer to trek onto the surface of the Athabasca Glacier. Then, take a jaw-dropping walk along the glass-floored Glacier Skywalk at the cliff’s edge.

The adventure begins with a ride onto the surface of the Athabasca Glacier in the all-terrain Ice Explorer – a massive vehicle specially designed for glacier travel. On this thrilling trip, an experienced driver-guide will share a wealth of fascinating information about glaciers, icefields and their impact on our environment.

Your tour includes a stop along the glacier, where you can walk on the ice and fill your water bottle with fresh glacier water. It’s the perfect time to capture the beauty of the icefield’s breathtaking mountain setting.

The grand finale to this experience is a stroll along the cliff-edged walkway of the Glacier Skywalk, where giant glaciers rest above and the spectacular glacier-formed Sunwapta Valley teems with wildlife below. Experience waterfalls, wildlife, fossils and more on this exciting 1-kilometre cliff-edged walkway that leads to a platform where glass is all that separates you from a 918-foot drop. The entire journey is presented in an interpretive storytelling format that will leave you feeling connected to a natural world that few people get to experience.

The Experience:

Each Glacier Adventure journey is led by an experienced driver-guide, who shares a wealth of fascinating information about glaciers, icefields and their impact on our environment. At the mid-point in the tour, passengers can safely step out onto the glacier and stand on this powerful ancient ice.

Facing the Glacier Discovery Centre lies the Athabasca Glacier – a tongue of ice 6 kilometres long and one kilometre wide. Take time for Brewster’s “Ice Age Adventure”, a tour onto the icy slopes of the Athabasca Glacier. You will travel in a specially designed Ice Explorer to the middle of the glacier, on a 5 kilometre round trip journey. Your driver/guide will explain how glaciers are formed and point out interesting geological features as you travel in safety and comfort. At the mid-point, you will have the option of stepping out onto ice formed from snow falling as long as 200 years ago.

Tours depart every 15-30 minutes from the Columbia Icefield Glacier Discovery Centre on the Icefields Parkway (dependent on time of season and weather permitting). Guests will have up to 20 minutes on the Glacier to experience the ice before departing.

Please note: Weather conditions can change rapidly. We recommend all guests dress accordingly (closed toe shoes /boots with a good grip; jacket / sweater). In more severe weather conditions access from the Ice Explorer out onto to the glacier surface may be inaccessible (i.e. thunderstorm, etc.)

Next, hop on any of the designated Ice Explorers departing the glacier every 12 minutes to transfer to the Glacier Skywalk.