Visit to Athabasca Glacier, Jasper National Park, Canada

rajamohansub

Oct 22, 20222 min read

Glaciers are the lifeline of the humanity, being the origin of many mighty rivers including Ganges and Indus in India/Pakistan considered the citadels of civilization. All glaciers in the world occupies about ten percent of the land mass of the globe and are big ice mass in slow perpetual motion and vast majority of them are in the polar region. We can also find few big glaciers in the Himalayan, Rocky and other mountain ranges of the world.

In all, Himalayan ranges sport the largest concentration of glaciers (outside the poles) about 34,919 of them big and small and among them ,Siachen glacier, Gangotri glacier and zemu glaciers are considered as important glaciers in India. Since majority of them are in high altitudes and visiting them even during summer would be considered treacherous unless you are trained as a mountaineer/hiker. Glacier of map of India is appended for your understanding.

In Canadian Rocky Mountains, there are few glaciers which are easily accessible and hence are the hotspots for tourists in summer. One such glacier, which is a part of the Columbia ice field in the Jasper National Park is Athabasca glacier (6 KM long, 90-300 m thick and about 6 sq Km in area). Like many other glaciers, this glacier is also shrinking/receding at the rate of 5m per year.

Location of Athabasca glacier and details are furnished in the map below:

After reaching the Columbia ice field assembly point ( 5 hours drive from the city of Calgary), we were taken to the glacier parking lot ( about 500m ) in a bus. From there, we were taken in an ice explorer ( muti terrain vehicle ) and negotiated through rough steep ( 35degree slope) slope to reach the edge ( about 700 m from the glacier parking lot) of the Athabasca glacier. Before and during the ride, we have been briefed of all safety points to be observed when we are in the glacier. After reaching the glacier, we have been left on our own for some time and that was really an experience worth remembering for long. Area ,where tourists are allowed had been barricaded and not allowed to go beyond that . Snaps taken at the trip are shared here.