The Rocky Mountains - Fabulous Western Canada: Capture the Excitement of the Great West! - page 123

take a hike through this area of alpine
vegetation, and if the weather is right,
they can admire the lovely little lake.
Curiously, the colour of the lake can
vary considerably depending on the
season. With the fi rst signs of spring, it
brightens to a marvellous metallic blue,
which then becomes paler and paler as
more and more sediment mixes with
the water.

1,6km over the last century alone. In
fact, it is rather the glacier's size which
has shrunk due to atmospheric warm-
ing. Those who wish to explore the ice
on foot should be mindful of crevasses,
which can be up to 40m deep. There
are 30,000 on the Athabasca Glacier,
some of which are hidden under thin
layers of snow or ice.

The Icefi eld Centre is an enormous
“green” building. Visitors should be sure
not to miss the Glacier Gallery , a
fascinating interactive exhibition which,
through a variety of models, fi lms and
found objects, explains everything
there is to know about the glaciers, in
particular offering plenty of information
on the past that has been preserved in
the ice for over 10,000 years.

A lookout located 113km north of Lake
Louise and 117km south of Jasper of-
fers a view of the North Saskatchewan
River and the magnifi cent Bridal Veil
Falls . Nearby is the Castleguard
Cave, a network of underwater caves,
the longest in Canada, that extends
over 20km under the Columbia Icefi eld.
Because of frequent fl ooding and the
inherent dangers of cave exploration,
visitors must obtain authorization from
Parks Canada to enter the caves.

The Stutfi eld Glacier lookout pro-
vides a view of one of the six huge
glaciers that are fed by the Columbia
Icefi eld, which continues one kilometre
into the valley. About 3km farther, on
the west side, are several avalanche cor-
ridors, some of which come right up to
the road. Generally, however, park ran-
gers trigger avalanches before the thick
layers of snow become dangerous.

Athabasca Glacier

The focal point of the icefi elds tour,
the Athabasca Glacier stands at 2,000m
above sea level, 127km north of Lake
Louise and 103km south of Jasper. Here,
information panels show the impres-
sive retreat of the glacier over the years:

6

The Icefi elds Parkway. © Philippe Renault