Neales on Wheels: Lake Louise to Columbia Icefield

We had frost on the car when we got up this morning and it was 33° again. We left Lake Louise Trailer Campground at 9:15 after stopping by the dump station to empty our tanks and to fill our fresh water tank. They have 7 lanes at the dump station and 4 were open, so no waiting for us to use the dump station.
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We drove north on TC-1 about 2 miles and then drove north on Hwy 93. We pulled over on a turnout to look at Crowfoot Mountain and Glacier.

From Lake Louise to Columbia Icefield

We arrived at the Columbia Icefield about 11:15 and after having driven 82 miles from Lake Louise. We pulled into the Overflow Camping parking lot and found a spot to park the RV. Mike had read that the parking lot had quite a slope to it and it does. In order to get the RV level so we could put our slides out, we had to put blocks under the right side jacks and then under the tires on the right side. When we got here the clouds had moved in over the glacier and we had a little rain and the wind was really blowing.

From Columbia Icefield

After lunch we walked up to the Icefield Centre and purchased our tickets for the Columbia Icefield Glacier Adventure. By now the rain was over, the sun had come out and the wind wasn't blowing as much. The regular cost for 2 adults is $99.90 CAD, but with our AAA discount it cost $84.91 plus 4.25 tax ($91.09 US). Our tickets were for the 1:30 tour and since we had an hour to wait, we went into the gift shop and bought postcards & stamps to mail after our tour.

A little before 1:30 we boarded a bus and drove up near the glacier where we boarded the huge Brewster Ice Explorers.

From Columbia Icefield

Our bus driver, Ken, told us about the different trees and foliage we saw along the way. Because of a short growing season (45 - 60 days a year) the trees are actually older than you would expect. The ones we saw were 200 years old & not very tall and the ones across from the glacier were 700 years old.

Immediately after leaving the bus, we boarded one of the Ice Explorers to begin our ride up to the Athabasca Glacier. Our Ice Explorer driver, Matt, told us how glaciers are formed and explained about the different terrain we were driving through on the way to the glacier.

From Columbia Icefield

Once up on the glacier we could get out of the Ice Explorer and actually walk out on the glacier. We had hardly stepped off the bus, when one of the drivers shouted “avalanche” and pointed to a shelf of snow that had broken loose. By the time we got the camera focused, the avalanche had ended.

From Columbia Icefield

We had about 15 minutes to walk about on the glacier and take photos.

From Columbia Icefield

We were wearing our heavy coats and had brought hats and gloves. We were having such a good time, we really didn’t notice the cold until a few minutes before we boarded the bus.

From Columbia Icefield

Rachel was our bus driver on the way back to the Icefield Centre and she pointed out a herd of bighorn sheep near the road (the photo is a little blurry).

From Columbia Icefield

Once back at the Icefield Centre, we went up to the coffee shop for some coffee and to write out our postcards. We dropped off our postcards at the front desk for the Glacier View Inn and had them stamped for the Icefield and put them in the mail.

We had a nice walk back to the RV and saw these markers near the parking lot showing that the glacier used to extend all the way to where the Icefield Centre is now.