The Columbia Icefield is the kind of stop that makes the entire drive up the Icefields Parkway worth it on its own. Spanning over 325 square kilometers with ice up to 365 meters deep, it’s the largest icefield in the Rocky Mountains and sits right on the boundary between Banff and Jasper National Parks. The star of the show is the Athabasca Glacier, one of the six principal parts of the Columbia Icefield, which over the past 125 years has receded but still spans roughly 6 square kilometers today. Seeing it up close is humbling — you’re standing on ancient ice that’s been here since long before any of the towns nearby existed, with jagged peaks like Mount Athabasca framing the whole scene.
You can absolutely view the glacier for free from the small parking area, but to really experience it, we’d recommend the Ice Explorer tour. You climb aboard a specialized, rugged vehicle built to handle the glacial terrain, and ride right onto the Athabasca Glacier, where you can walk on the ice and even fill your water bottle with pure glacial meltwater. Many tours pair this with the Glacier Skywalk, a suspended platform with a glass floor overlooking the Sunwapta Valley, suspended 280 meters in the air and stretching about 1 kilometer long. If you want something more immersive and less crowded, look into an IceWalk — guests get about 2 hours of actual time walking on the glacier with a guide, with the full experience taking 3 to 4 hours. We didn’t take the tour, but the toe hike to the edge of the glacier.
