Walking on the Athabasca Glacier

June 26, 2026

Looking down into a deep canyon from the Columbia Icefield Skywalk, the glass-and-steel walkway curving along the cliff edge, grey peaks under an overcast sky

Our first full day was also the longest drive, up the Icefields Parkway to the Columbia Icefield, near the far end of the road from Banff. We did the Skywalk first. It’s a glass-floored walkway built out over a canyon, and the drop under your feet looks like a long way down. You get used to it after a minute or two.

Two people standing on the glass platform of the Skywalk, valley and mountains behind them, the glass floor visible underfoot

People posing at the large blue “SKYWALK” letters at the end of the walkway, snow-streaked mountains behind

Out on the Glacier

A specialized glacier vehicle with oversized tires on the gravel approach road, a passenger looking out, grey mountains beyond

In the afternoon we took the Columbia Icefield Adventure out onto the Athabasca Glacier in one of their big Ice Explorer buses. Our guide was Tommy. You don’t just wander onto a glacier; there are crevasses, so they keep you on a roped-off section of the ice. It’s a strange thing to stand on. The surface is grey with rock dust, hard underfoot, and there was meltwater running across it in places.

A wide view across the flat grey surface of the Athabasca Glacier, mountains rising on either side under a heavy sky

A group standing together out on the open glacier ice, mountains in the distance

It was cold and grey up there, which I didn’t mind. On the drive in there are markers along the road showing where the glacier used to reach. It has pulled back a long way, and I thought about that on the drive back.