Summer Travel Map

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Columbia Icefields and Athabasca Glacier

June 7, 2009
Columbia Icefields, Jasper National Park, AB

Today's travel took us from Banff, along TC-1 (Trans-Canada 1), then PH-93 (Provincial Highway 93) toward the town of Jasper, located in the National Park of the same name. Just after we passed from Banff NP to Jasper NP, we stopped at the Columbia Icefields. We ended up staying the night, as it was getting late after we took the bus tour out onto Athabasca Glacier. It was about a 1.5 hour tour, with a shuttle bus that took us up the side of the mountain to the side of the glacier, then a "sno-cat" that drove about 1 km out onto the glacier itself. With a 32% slope down to the ice, then a steep slope up the mountain, it was quite a machine.

In the late afternoon, the snow flurries changed to squalls and then a steadier wet snow, which was quite nice to watch from the warmth of the coach.

Click here for pictures and commentary from today.

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