Glaciers 

One of the best ways to experience our Rocky Mountain glaciers and icefields is to tour along the classic Icefields Parkway, named for the massive glaciers that parallel its west side. It runs 230 km (143 mi) through remote, high altitude terrain from Lake Louise to Jasper.

On the Lake Louise end, a highlight is Crowfoot Glacier, named for the original shape of the ice mass, like the three toes of a crow’s foot. Only two “toes” remain today as one has since receded.

The most famous is the Columbia Icefield, the largest mass of non-polar ice in North America. It is the last of the great sheet of ice that once encased most of Canada and now covers a high plateau between Mount Columbia – Alberta’s tallest mountain at 3,747 m (12,293 ft) – and Mount Athabasca.

The icefield measures nearly 325 sq km (125 sq mi) and feeds eight glaciers. You can see three of these from the Icefields Parkway. The nearby Athabasca Glacier is more accessible and is the most visited glacier in North America.