Athabasca Glacier

Canadian
Rockies

Athabasca Glacier

This photo shows the most comprehensive view of the Athabasca Glacier. There is more to the glacier in the adjoining valleys and beyond the horizon. Taken with a 300 mm lens, note the size differences in the Sno Coach compared to the lower pictures.

Walking the Athabasca Glacier without a licensed guide can not only be dangerous, it can be fatal. Recently, in two separate incidents, unguided tourists fell into forty foot deep crevices which were camouflaged by fresh spring snows. By the time rescuers got to them, they had died of hypothermia. For the interest of photographers, the remaining pictures on this page were taken with a 600 mm lens.

Below left, is a “Sno Coach” – an overgrown bus with Euclid size tires that traverse the glacier. On the left side of that photo is a group of tourists being led on a guided tour of the Athabasca Glacier. Elaine and I, for ten years happy residents of Florida and having endured 40 winters in Buffalo, declined this incredible opportunity to once again slog through the snow.
Below right, two Sno Coaches are passing. The one on the left heading up the glacier, the one on the right coming down the glacier. The Sno Coaches only go on the flat, lower portion of the glacier; they cannot negotiate the rough terrain seen directly behind them.

The glacier has receded about 1/4 mile in the last 70 years due to global warming.