#19 We Can Walk On Water

Columbia Icefields

There was one more day in Jasper and we had a couple more agenda items. Hey, agendas are for everyone. Don’t judge. The morning began on the road to The Columbia Icefields. I signed us up on Trip Advisor. According to Trip Advisor all tickets say 10:30 but they are good for the entire day. We weren’t worried that we were running a few minutes late. The Icefields ticket takers laughed and put us on standby. Apparently, we missed our bus.

The big Ice Explorer is an amazing piece of machinery. Look at that thing. There are only 23 in existence (On earth!!!). The Icefields Adventure owns 21 of them. Sounds a lot like the big red bus in Glacier National Park. The Ice Explorers were made specifically to drive on glaciers and traverse mountains that even our big honkin’ truck can’t climb. Special note to Dave from our caravan, “your jeep won’t make it either.”

That road doesn’t look like much but it is a 36 degree grade. Even in the Rockies the biggest grade was 10. What travels down that grade must go back up.

We made it. Yes, it was cold on the glacier but we dressed appropriately. It helped that the sun was shining and it was a calm day. We found out we were very lucky with the weather. Apparently there is typically a swift wind that blows at the top.

I wanted to experience everything the glacier had in store for me.

A little walk across the flowing melting glacial waters. If you fall in, say bye bye. The river is deep and icy cold.

I had to take a taste. Water can’t be more fresh than melting glacier water. I wish I had brought my water bottle.

Pam wasn’t interested in falling to her death in the melting water flows or catching some unknown disease from sipping an unbottled and purified water supply. She was quite happy to stand on the glacier and enjoy the blue skies and high peaks. By the way, that’s Pam’s new jacket. She’s sportin’.

Here’s an up close and personal of the Ice Explorer. Those tires, and there are 6 of them, are 5 feet in diameter. It is all wheel drive. Only thing is if you are running from the law, the Ice Explorer is not a good getaway vehicle. Max speed going up a hill is 3 mph. On normal ground you can really cruise at 11 mph.

The Sky Walk

After our glacier exploration we were driven to the Sky Walk. It’s an all glass ledge off the side of a mountain. The walk across the glass floor can be very disconcerting. I tried but the glare from the sun prevented me from getting a good straight down photo to share with you.

Pam felt you needed to see the view below from the glass ledge. Look at your own peril.

An icefield is made up of at least 2 glaciers that join together. The Columbia Icefield is the largest one in Canada. There are 6 glaciers that join together. It is the only icefield that feeds water into 3 oceans; The Pacific, The Atlantic and The Arctic.

Pam and I took our walk on the Athabasca Glacier, one of the 6. It is difficult to tell from the pics the depth of the ice on the glacier. Go ahead, take a look. What’s your best guess?

The Athabasca Glacier is a little over 300 feet deep or 22 stories high. You could dig a hole into the glacier to the mountain below, drop the Statue of Liberty into it and you would not be able to see her torch.

While we waited for the bus to take us back to our bus, Pam spied this beautiful creature hiking up the rocky hillside across the street. Good job, Pam.

We really enjoyed our trip to the Athabasca Glacier. It was my second glacier walk. My first one was in Alaska with my mom. I’ll never forget that day and I’ll never forget this one.

I decided to save Athabasca Falls for the next blog. We will also be going to Peyto Lake. The two spots are fabulous. Don’t miss it. It’s goodbye to Jasper after that. You must come along.