Columbia Icefield Skywalk Tickets: The Two Ways to Buy, the Shuttle and the 2027 Season

The Columbia Icefield Skywalk closed for the winter after 12 October 2026, along with the Ice Explorer rides onto the Athabasca Glacier. Pursuit, which runs both, has published its 2027 dates: 1 May to 11 October 2027, weather permitting. A ticket bought now is for next season, and the calendar on this page shows the 2027 departures as they go on sale.

A glass floor above the Sunwapta Valley

The Skywalk is a walkway along a cliff edge beside the Icefields Parkway, a short shuttle ride from the Columbia Icefield Discovery Centre in Jasper National Park. Pursuit describes about a kilometre of interpretive path, with displays on fossils, wildlife footprints and the glaciers, ending at a glass-floored platform that reaches 35 m out from the cliff face. It puts the glass about 280 m (918 ft) above the valley floor. Below you are the Sunwapta River and its waterfalls; across the valley are the glaciers, and the operator says mountain goats use the slopes nearby.

It opened in May 2014 as the Glacier Skywalk, a name some tour listings still use. A hand-held audio guide in several languages comes with every ticket, though the devices are subject to availability and are not handed out in the rain. If the glass floor is too much for you, Pursuit says the path has other viewing areas on solid ground.

Two tickets, and who sells them

There are two ways onto the Skywalk. The Skywalk ticket covers the shuttle from the Discovery Centre, the walkway, the platform and the audio guide. The Columbia Icefield Adventure covers all of that plus the Ice Explorer ride onto the Athabasca Glacier, with 15 to 25 minutes on the ice by Pursuit’s count. There is no glacier-only ticket: asked whether the Ice Explorer can be done as a single experience, Pursuit’s FAQ answers “No.” If you want the glacier, you buy the Skywalk with it. The Skywalk also comes inside Pursuit’s own packages, such as its Brewster Sightseeing day tours.

Pursuit sells both tickets on its own website, banffjaspercollection.com, by phone and at the ticket desk on the Discovery Centre’s main floor, and it sells them through booking partners too, GetYourGuide among them. The two tickets on this page are Pursuit Collection’s own listings there. Pursuit’s advice is to book ahead for the date and time you want. This site is not affiliated with Pursuit; the tickets on this page are booked through GetYourGuide.

Whoever you buy from, the ticket is for a departure time. Tours leave every 15 to 30 minutes, Pursuit asks you to arrive 30 minutes early, and neither listing here has free cancellation; Pursuit’s own terms make its attraction tickets non-refundable too. If the weather stops a tour, the combined ticket’s listing reschedules it or refunds you, and it suggests booking your first available day at the icefield to leave room for that.

If you will be driving the parkway between 1 May and 11 October 2027 and can give the icefield three hours, the combined ticket is the one to book: the glacier is the half you cannot do on your own, and the Skywalk comes with it.

See 2027 dates for the Skywalk and Ice Explorer →

What the tickets cost

When we checked in October 2026, GetYourGuide listed the Skywalk alone from US$36 a person, rated 4.3 from 1,069 reviews, and the Skywalk with the Ice Explorer from US$96, rated 4.6 from 3,362 reviews. Both prices are in US dollars. Pursuit admits children aged 5 and under free, and on its own site it offers Alberta residents up to 20% off and sells a Pursuit Pass that it says saves up to 40% across its attractions.

Neither ticket includes food or the national park pass. You need the pass to drive the Icefields Parkway even if you never stop: CA$12.25 an adult a day in 2026, with youth 17 and under free.

The shuttle is the only way in

You cannot drive to the Skywalk. Pursuit’s FAQ puts it plainly: there is no parking there, and Skywalk visitors take the included shuttle from the Discovery Centre. Adventure and Skywalk guests park in the lower lot on the Jasper side and climb 75 stairs to the centre, or take the alternative path; accessible parking is in the upper lot. You must have your ticket before you board, and it is scanned at the Skywalk.

Cyclists may ride to the Skywalk, Pursuit says, but only with a ticket bought in advance, and it warns that the highway there is narrow and busy with buses. There are no washrooms at the Skywalk, so use the ones in the centre first.

How long to allow, and when to go

Pursuit recommends 40 to 45 minutes on the walkway and sets no time limit; it sells the Skywalk on its own as an experience of under an hour. The combined ticket, glacier first and Skywalk after, takes 2.5 to 3 hours. In 2026 the Skywalk stayed open until 5 or 6 pm, and from 1 to 12 October it ran from 11 am to 5 pm. Pursuit had not posted its 2027 hours when we checked.

On timing, Pursuit’s advice points two ways: its own Skywalk guide recommends the morning, for smaller crowds, while the ticket listing suggests a later-afternoon visit because the attraction gets busy. Dress for the glacier either way. Pursuit expects it to be about 15 °C colder than the Discovery Centre, and the listing asks for warm layers, gloves and a waterproof jacket.

Accessibility

The Skywalk is the easier half. Pursuit describes its flat 800 m circuit as fully accessible for wheelchairs, strollers and walkers, with accessible access to it by arrangement. For the glacier, two Ice Explorers have wheelchair lifts, and accessible tours run at set times with at least 72 hours’ notice; the listing on this page says to arrange that through the operator’s own website. Pursuit’s day tour from Banff, below, is not recommended for wheelchair users or people with limited mobility.

The 2027 season

The Skywalk and the Adventure ran from 1 May to 12 October in 2026, weather permitting. Pursuit’s published 2027 dates for both are 1 May to 11 October. In season it closes them in severe weather, such as lightning, blizzard conditions, severe rain or extreme winds. Ice Odyssey, its smaller-group glacier tour, closed for the rest of 2026 by a notice of 22 September. One day tour below gives the icefield’s closure as 13 October to 3 May; Pursuit’s own opening day for 2027 is 1 May.

Until then nothing at the icefield is for sale, and the parkway has no fuel, food or phone signal in winter. The Columbia Icefield page covers what stays open, from the glacier itself to the free trail to its toe, and why Parks Canada says not to walk onto the ice alone.

Getting there without a car

The Discovery Centre is on Highway 93 North, 128 km north of Lake Louise and 104 km south of Jasper by Parks Canada’s count; Pursuit puts it about two and a half hours from Banff and an hour from Jasper. No public transit runs to it, so without a car the practical answer is a day tour from Banff or Calgary. The Icefields Parkway page covers the drive and its rules, the Banff to Jasper guide the stops in order, and the Jasper page the town at the parkway’s north end.

Day tours that stop at the Skywalk

Three day tours on GetYourGuide include time at the Skywalk. Two include the tickets.

Discover Banff Tours’ day trip from Banff (from US$266, 4.8 from 437 reviews) includes the Ice Explorer, the Skywalk and a packed lunch, with pickups at 13 points in Banff from 7:30 am and one in Lake Louise village at 8:41 am. It stops at Crowfoot Glacier, the Waterfowl Lakes, Saskatchewan River Crossing and Bow Lake, and cancellation is free up to three days before.

Pursuit Collection’s tour from Banff (from US$287, 4.9 from 26 reviews) collects you from your Banff hotel, stops for photos at Crowfoot Glacier and Bow Lake, and includes both tickets and a hot buffet lunch at the Discovery Centre. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours before.

Matrix Tours & Travel Ltd’s Calgary and Banff day (from US$55, 4.8 from 212 reviews) picks up in Calgary, Canmore and Banff and stops at Lake Louise, Bow Lake and Peyto Lake, but the Ice Explorer and Skywalk tickets are not included, and the listing calls it unsuitable for people with mobility impairments.

To ride the glacier rather than only look at it, or to walk on it with a guide, the Columbia Icefield page sets out the options.