"a world where snow and ice, rock and sky dominate the land. A world where nature rules, where humans look on in awe." IceWalk Guided Trips, Jasper
I am in the photo above......look really closely....I have on my Icelandic white and pink sweater I knit. Yikes....white....what was I thinking???
We have travelled to the Columbia Ice Fields. I feel completely surrounded by the white, grey, icy mountains.
A closer zoomed in photo of the Athabasca Glacier. This glacier is considered one of the six main 'toes' of the Columbia Ice Field. 'Toes' or 'snout' are terms used to describe the end of a glacier.
A further out look at the glacier. One of the 'dots' in the centre of this photo is a parking lot and entrance point to hike up to the glacier.
The 'dot' is now just to the left, on top of the glacier lake. That is exactly were we are driving to.
This glacier recedes almost 16 feet per year! In the last 125 years, 1.5 kms. is gone and half it's volume.
A wee bit breezy here.
The Athabasca Glacier snow coach. They were not doing tours on the day we arrived. Not sure I would be ok to do it even if we could.
Heading up to the Athabasca Glacier. I definitely do not have proper boots on....but I really want to see it. So off and up I go.
Pretty cold....little frozen stream along the way.
I am following those four tourists. 'Hey...wait for me.'
As I go up....I think about the fact that this glacier will be gone one day. If there is a chance to see one...I highly recommend it....as they won't always be here.
Random thought: go to Youtube.com Scarlett Johansson's song 'Before My Time.' A song about losing our glaciers and icebergs from a documentary I saw titled 'Chasing Ice.'
Almost there. But quite slippery. I love the smell of the crisp air, and it is so quiet.
Looking back to the parking lot.....near that pond. It didn't look this far or high when I started. Yikes.
I MADE IT!
The Athabasca Glacier is almost 3.7 miles long, covers almost 2.3 sq. miles, and is between 300-980 feet thick. Really scary to think about all that.
Looking out on the glacier. The speck on the left, about an inch from the bottom of the photo corner is the nearest person to me.
A zoomed in look at the crevasses farther up the glacier. This glacier moves down from the icefield by many centimetres per day.
A long way back for me to get down from this climb. Took me a lot longer to get down because I just kept slipping.
This glacier, in 1935 reached to the small glacial pond at the parking lot!
This sign reminds me of the dangers that nature holds. Unfortunately tourists die every year going off the trail.
Heading down.
In 1982, the Athabasca Glacier was here at this marker.
The speck on the grey path heading towards the pond is Debbie taking my picture....lol.
A glacial pond adjacent to the parking lot. Beautiful green-blue colour.
Looking back at the glacier. THAT was amazing.
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