Columbia Icefield Adventure & Skywalk

The Columbia Icefield is the largest icefield in the Canadian Rockies, and the Columbia Icefield Adventure is the easiest way to stand on it. From the Glacier Discovery Centre beside the Icefields Parkway, a coach carries you to the edge of the Athabasca Glacier, where you transfer to an Ice Explorer — an all-terrain vehicle built for ice — that grinds down a steep moraine and out onto the glacier itself. You then get time to walk on the ice, which is roughly ten thousand years old, and to fill a bottle with glacial meltwater. On the way back, the tour stops at the Columbia Icefield Skywalk, a cliff-edge walkway with a glass floor suspended 280 metres above the Sunwapta Valley. The whole experience takes about two and a half to three hours. It is a seasonal product: the operator lists the attraction as closed for the 2026 season and gives 2027 dates of May 1 to October 11, weather dependent. That matters for planning. The Icefield sits roughly halfway between Lake Louise and Jasper on the Icefields Parkway, about three hours by car from the town of Banff, and in winter the parkway has no services at all. If you visit between May and October, book the Ice Explorer and Skywalk ticket in advance and build a full day around the drive, stopping at Bow Lake, Peyto Lake and the waterfalls along the way. If you visit in winter, enjoy the parkway as a scenic drive with full winter preparation, and save the glacier for a summer trip.

Why the Icefield matters. The Columbia Icefield feeds glaciers that drain toward three oceans, and the Athabasca Glacier, the tongue you see from the highway, has retreated dramatically over the past century. Markers along the walking trail to the toe of the glacier show where the ice stood in past decades, making climate change visible in a way few places can. Walking on the glacier independently is dangerous because of hidden crevasses, which is why the Ice Explorer tour, or a guided ice walk with a certified guide, is the safe way onto the ice. On the tour you stay inside a marked area and the driver-guides explain the glacier as you go.

The Skywalk is the second act. A curved steel and glass walkway projects from the cliff above the Sunwapta Valley, and the glass floor puts you directly over the drop. Audio guides explain the geology and wildlife, and on a clear day the views take in waterfalls, hanging valleys and peaks. The Ice Explorer and Skywalk combination sold on Tiqets includes the Discovery Centre, the glacier tour, the Skywalk and the shuttle between them, with an audio guide in several languages. The operator also sells packages with an overnight stay at the Glacier View Lodge at the Discovery Centre, which lets you see the glacier at dawn without the drive.

Planning the parkway. The Icefields Parkway runs for about 230 kilometres between Lake Louise and Jasper, and it is one of the world's great drives. Fill up before you leave — fuel and food are limited in summer and non-existent in winter — and remember there is no cell coverage along most of the route. From November 1 to March 31, Parks Canada requires winter tires or chains, crews clear snow only during the day, and the road is not salted. Check 511 Alberta before you set off, and allow far more time than the map suggests for stops at Bow Lake, Peyto Lake, Mistaya Canyon and the viewpoints. In summer, start early from Banff or Lake Louise, ride the Ice Explorer around midday, and either continue to Jasper or return south in the evening light.