I don’t sleep well anxious not to miss my early wake-up alarms. I set two alarms on my phone, and then noticed before bed that it was still on Pacific instead of automatically adjusting to Mountain time. My iPad was accurate, but not my phone, and I couldn’t find a way to change it. Thank you, Lord, that I noticed, or I would have totally missed my trip this morning!
Maybe it’s time to update the iPhone 5!
I’m taking a tour today to the Columbia Icefields - the largest collection of glacial ice in the Canadian Rockies. It will be nice for someone else to do the driving plus I’m looking forward to the commentary and learning. There is a 60% chance of rain today, but in the midst of low gray skies, I see a hint of blue.
As we travel, the blue increases. Thank you, Lord!
We will also be in part of Jasper NP which is north of Banff. Named for an old fur trader, Jasper is the largest national park in Canada and receives 1.2 million visitors each year. People say it’s even more beautiful than Banff. Motivation to return since I won’t be able to explore the entire park on this trip?
Even though I was here yesterday, the tour stops at Lake Louise, known as the “lake of little fishes” by the First Nation. The hanging glacier named after Victoria dominates the far end of the lake.
The water color pops with these red canoes!
We spot a grizzly bear walking along the fence bordering Highway #1. This stretch of roadway was once described as a “killing field” for wildlife. Fences were erected along with animal underpasses and concrete “overpasses” with a forest planted right on top for animals to safely negotiate crossing the highway.
The Columbian Icefields Parkway opened in 1940 connecting Banff and Jasper NPs and have seven major glaciers along its route. Initially, it was gravel and nighttime travel was forbidden, but its two lanes are now paved. Voted one of the ten most scenic drives in the world, conditions can be unpredictable especially in the winter. Last week, the tour bus was stranded on the highway for 7 hours after a sudden snowfall created a 60 car pileup.
This area normally receives seven meters of snow each year, and the park service blasts areas for avalanche control. Last year, one section of the road was closed for two weeks.
When the Crowfoot Glacier was named over a century ago, it resembled a three-toed bird’s foot. The lower toe has retreated and along with an avalanche, it is now a 2-toed glacier!
Bill Peyto was an infamous guide in the area, and a lake was named for him. It is spitting a few raindrops as I walk down the path to a viewing platform on a hillside to see his namesake, and I am speechless.
Is this real?
Look at the reflection of the mountains in the lake!
I ask why the color is so intense, and the guide explains that the further away the water is viewed, the bluer our eyes see it.
OR, as the driver explains, they paint it every night!
And then there are blue skies again as we arrive at the Columbia Icefields.
An icefield is like a lake, and as it melts, the runoff creates glaciers that grow with additional snow which compacts and thickens or retreat with melting. These mountains of ice grind the rocks below them and push a mass of dirt, stones, and debris called moraine to the sides and in front. As nature’s master carvers, they slowly change the landscape over centuries.
The glaciers here are 700-800 ft thick with the Athabasca in front...
...the Snow Dome to the right...
...and Double A...
...and Andromeda to the left.
These glaciers are growing with snowfall at 15 meters/year but melting at 25 meters. They are slowing retreating, and most people attribute this to climate change.
1844 was the last year that Athabasca advanced in size. Currently 5 miles long and 1 mile wide, it is moving slowly 2-3 cm/day. Named by the indigenous people, Athabasca means “where the grass grows”. I think they got this one wrong!
In 1952, glacier walks started on the icefields in the summer. We load into specially built snow coaches to reach the glacier, one of only 24 in the world. Interesting to note that 22 of them are on the Columbia Icefields and the other two are in Antarctica; one owned by the US named “Ivan the Terribus” and the other owned by Australia named “Snow Coach #24!”
I launch myself along with my hiking sticks, headband, gloves,and two jackets...it’s cold...onto ice 900 ft thick! I walk and take pictures, and we are invited to fill a bottle with glacier water to drink. With thousands of feet walking on this ice, I’ll pass!
The sky is brilliant blue, and I can see the compressed glacier blue with my binoculars, and the zoom of my camera!
As we head back to Banff, we spot another bear along the rocky slopes; a black bear...
...and mountain goats walking along the road.
The Skywalk is a glass bridge cantilevered over a river gorge.
It’s hard to believe, but the distance of my feet to the valley floor is the same depth of the ice I was walking on!
It has been a 12-hour day, and I am pooped. Besides the ubiquitous McDonalds and a few Burger Kings and Wendy’s, there are different fast food restaurants here. I stop by A&W for an advertised wild fried cod burger. It hits the spot!
And so has my day on the Columbia Icefields!
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