The Athabasca is the most-visited glacier on the North American continent. Situated across from the Icefield Centre, its ice is in continuous motion, creeping forward at the rate of several centimeters per day. Spilling from the Columbia Icefield over three giant bedrock steps, the glacier flows down the valley like a frozen, slow-moving river. Because of a warming climate, the Athabasca Glacier has been receding or melting for the last 125 years. Losing half its volume and retreating more than 1.5 kms, the shrinking glacier has left a moonscape of rocky moraines in its wake.
We decided to take the tour, of course, and loaded onto the icefield explorer. These giant buses, of sorts, are only found in certain parts of the world. The park provides hourly excursions from the visitor center and the guide provides a weath of information about the icefield, buses, wildlife, and points of interest. This little side trip was the highlight of our whole vaction experience to the Canadian Rockies. We highly recommend the bus tour as it allows you to walk on the glacier and view scenes that you would otherwise not get to experience.
As we walked off the explorer, the temperature dipped dramatically. Fortunately we had worn our jackets and gloves, in preparation for the excursion. We were allowed 20 minutes to explore the glacier, get a drink out of the flowing glacial stream, and pose for photographs. WHAT AN AWESOME SIGHT!!!!
Norma and I took turns getting drinks and Greg made sure to lie down on the ice so he could remember the cool temperatures (since it was 110 degrees in Oklahoma when we left) of the icefield. This glacial icefield reminds us that man's accelerating use of fossil fuels, destruction of the planet's forests and release of industrial gases, are causing a global warming trend, called the Greenhouse Effect. This phenomenon is hastening rates of the glacier's retreat and the icefield's loss of volume.
