Tracing the spine of the Continental Divide with 100 glaciers flanking its western side, the Icefields Parkway is one of the world’s most spectacular journeys. En route are rugged limestone peaks of aching beauty and opportunities for picnics, camping, hiking, climbing and cycling.

Construction of the 230 km (143 mi) road that links Lake Louise with Jasper began in 1931 when the Canadian government put unemployed men to work for 20 cents a day. The single-lane gravel Banff-Jasper Road opened in 1940 while the country was at war. With the 1950s/60s auto-tourist boom came widening, paving and realignment—and a change of name.

The Icefields Parkway connects Banff and Jasper national parks, two of seven contiguous Canadian mountain parks that form one of the world’s largest protected landscapes. The United Nations has designated this area a World Heritage Site for its natural beauty, plant and animal diver-sity, and ongoing geological processes such as glaciation and canyon formation. Grizzlies, black bears, wolves, coyotes, mountain goats, deer, elk, moose and bighorn sheep—it’s almost guaranteed you’ll see the Rockies’ big mammals during your drive.

It’s possible to drive the Icefields Parkway in 2.5 hours, but most people take the better part of a day. A few highlights (amongst many) include (distance is noted south to north):
• Bow Lake (33 km/21 mi) When Jimmy Simpson, founder of eclectic Num-Ti-Jah Lodge, saw Bow Lake in 1898, he declared it as the most beautiful thing he’d seen. Out of the turquoise lake the mountains rise steep and rugged. To the left is Crowfoot Glacier, once shaped like a crow’s three toes. Suspended over the lake, Bow Glacier’s meltwaters cascade down massive cliffs.
• Peyto Lake & Bow Summit (40 km/25 mi) Bow Summit is the highest point on the Parkway (2068 m/6875 ft), a remarkable viewpoint for Peyto Lake (photo above), shaped like a wolf’s head. The opaque turquoise hue is a result of suspended glacial sediment. Ground from the movement of ice over rock, this powder is called ‘rock flour’. Signs tell the story of Englishman Bill Peyto, who became a mountain man in the 1890s.
• Parker Ridge (118 km/73 mi) A relatively easy, rewarding way to explore the Columbia Icefield area is to walk 3 km (1.8 mi) up the shoulder of Parker Ridge, named for American climber Herschel Parker. Up top, you see Saskatchewan Glacier.
• Columbia Icefield (127 km/79 mi) The Columbia Icefield is one of the largest accumulations of ice south of the Arctic. It covers 325 sq km (125 sq mi), bigger than some countries, and is up to 350 m (400 yd) deep, as deep as Toronto CN Tower is tall. Icefield meltwaters eventually flow into three oceans—west to the Pacific, north to the Arctic, and east to Hudson’s Bay and the Atlantic. This ‘hydrological apex’ is one of two in the world (the other is in Siberia).
Out of the Icefield flow six major glaciers, one of which is the Athabasca Glacier where visitors walk to the glacier toe and Peter Lemieux offers guided icewalks. Brewster’s all-terrain Ice Explorer travels to the glacier headwall where guides lead excursions onto the ice. Across the road is the Icefield Centre with lodging, restaurant and Parks Canada interpretive displays. Icefield Helicopters offers spectacular glacier tours by air.
• Sunwapta Falls (175 km/109 mi) Admire this lovely ‘stepping’ falls from a footbridge over the deep limestone gorge. There’s a picnic site and nearby resort.
• Athabasca Falls (200 km/124 mi) Sand-laden Athabasca River water thunders through the narrow gorge smoothing canyon walls and creating potholes. There’s a picnic site and 20 minute interpretive trail.

As you drive the Parkway, consider the words of J Norman Collie on discovering the Columbia Icefield in 1898: “The view that lay before us in the evening light was one that does not often fall to the lot of modern mountaineers. A new world was spread at our feet—to the westward stretched a vast icefield never before seen by the human eye, and surrounded by entirely unknown, unnamed and unclimbed peaks.”

The Athabasca, Canadian Heritage River

Image © Whitewater Rafting (Jasper) Ltd.

200 YEARS OF EXPLORATION
When you cross the North Saskatchewan River on your Icefields Parkway adventure, consider that fur trade scout and geographer David Thompson reached this very place in June 1807. For three years Thompson travelled nearby Howse Pass, but in 1810 Piikani (Peigan) warriors blocked the route, fearing that their foes to the west were bartering furs for rifles. So, Thompson detoured north to present-day Jasper National Park, pioneering the Athabasca Valley and a portion of the Icefields Parkway route as the principal trans-Rockies fur trade avenue. Commemorate the bicentennial of Thompson’s first Rockies crossing by stopping at the new David Thompson exhibit at the Howse Valley viewpoint in Banff National Park, and at the David Thompson National Historic Monument in Jasper National Park, 24 km (15 mi) south of Jasper.
— Graeme Pole