The Columbia Icefield

The Columbia Icefield - the geological heart of Jasper National Park - is a surviving remnant of the thick ice mass that once covered most of the mountains of Western Canada. Lying on a wide, elevated plateau close to three quarters of the park’s highest peaks, it is the largest icefield in the Canadian Rockies. Most of the precipitation captured by those mountains falls as snow – up to seven meters (23ft) a year. That’s more snow than can melt during the summer, so the snow accumulates and eventually turns to ice.

The Icefield also contains one of the most accessible glaciers in the world. Named the Athabasca Glacier, this 10,000-year-old sheet of ice flows down the valley from the Icefield over three giant bedrock steps and forms part of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The last century has seen the rapid retreat of this vast glacier, leaving a moonscape of rocky moraines in its wake. Scientific research has shown that the ice melt is speeding up but, to date, Athabasca still covers approximately 6 sq km (2.3 sq mi) and, at its thickest, measures 300 m (985 ft).

It is an awe-inspiring, magical place; monumental but fragile and to be there in person is an experience that will live long in the memory.

Come and see it for yourself on our Autumn Train Journey Through the Canadian Rockies to Vancouver 2026