The Columbia Icefield: The Athabasca Glacier, the Ice Explorer and the Road There

The Columbia Icefield’s paid attractions close for the winter after 12 October 2026. The Columbia Icefield Adventure, Pursuit’s Ice Explorer ride onto the Athabasca Glacier, and the Columbia Icefield Skywalk run from 1 May to 12 October in 2026, weather permitting. Pursuit’s published 2027 dates for both are 1 May to 11 October, and Pursuit is already selling 2027 dates on its own site; the calendar here shows them as GetYourGuide lists them. Ice Odyssey, its smaller-group glacier tour, is closed for the rest of the 2026 season (notice of 22 September).

The icefield and its glacier

Parks Canada calls the Columbia Icefield “the largest icefield in the Canadian Rockies”: more than 300 km² of ice, feeding several large glaciers, including the Athabasca, Columbia and Saskatchewan. It is part of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site. On Mount Snow Dome, water from the ice flows to three oceans, the Pacific, the Arctic and the Atlantic, which makes it one of two such points in North America.

The Athabasca Glacier, whose toe is a short walk from the road opposite the Discovery Centre, is the one the Ice Explorer drives onto. Parks Canada calls it “Canada’s most accessible glacier”. It is also shrinking. The icefield lost nearly 13.3% of its ice between 1985 and 2024, and in 2023 the Athabasca saw more ice melt than in any of the previous ten years. The trail to its toe crosses rock that was under the ice in the 1950s.

How the ticket works

You check in inside the Discovery Centre, take a shuttle to the transfer bay and board an Ice Explorer, which carries up to 56 passengers and climbs a steep moraine slope on its way onto the glacier. Pursuit gives 15 to 25 minutes on the ice, inside a marked area; the listing on this page says about 20. A shuttle then takes you on to the Skywalk.

Pursuit says the whole Adventure takes 2.5 to 3 hours and expects the glacier to be about 15 °C colder than the Discovery Centre. Commentary on board is live and in English, and Pursuit’s free audio app has the tour in nine languages. Pursuit says two Ice Explorers have wheelchair lifts and that accessible tours run at set times with 72 hours’ notice, which the listing says to arrange through the operator’s own website.

On 18 July 2020 an Ice Explorer with 27 people aboard rolled about 50 m down a moraine embankment on the road to the glacier. Three people died and 14 had life-threatening injuries. The RCMP laid no criminal charges. The operator, named in court as Brewster Inc., pleaded guilty to two counts under Alberta’s occupational health and safety law, failing to mandate seatbelt use and failing to control the hazard of a slope, for a total of CA$475,000. Tours resumed in 2021 after seatbelts were fitted.

The Skywalk

The second half of the Adventure is the Columbia Icefield Skywalk, a cliff-edge walkway above the Sunwapta Valley that ends on a glass-floored platform. It has no parking and is reached only by shuttle from the Discovery Centre, and it is also sold on its own. The two ways to buy it, the prices, the shuttle, accessibility and the 2027 season are on the Columbia Icefield Skywalk tickets page.

The glacier on foot

Parks Canada is direct: “Walking on the Athabasca Glacier is not safe.” The ice at the toe is hollow and collapsing, the water underneath is extremely cold and fast-moving, and “over the years several people have died from falling into crevasses”. Do not cross the barriers.

The free way to the glacier’s edge is the Toe of the Athabasca Glacier trail, across from the Icefield Centre: 1.8 km return with 60 m of climb, about an hour, at no cost beyond the park pass. Toe of the Glacier Road is open to vehicles up to 7.5 m long from 5 June to 12 October in 2026, and is open to people on foot all year. To stand on the ice itself, Parks Canada’s advice is a guided tour: the Ice Explorer, or a guided hike like Icewalks’, below.

The icefield in winter

After 12 October nothing at the icefield is for sale until the Ice Explorer and the Skywalk reopen on 1 May 2027. Pursuit’s restaurants and the Glacier View Lodge close for the season on 12 October and its shop a day later; Parks Canada’s information desk in the centre closed on 27 September, and Parks Canada lists its Glacier Gallery as open from mid-April to mid-October. What stays is the glacier itself, across the highway from the centre, and the Toe of the Glacier Road, which Parks Canada lists as open on foot all year. Its warning about walking onto the ice holds in every season.

Most of a winter visit is the drive. Snow tires or chains are mandatory on the parkway from 1 November to 31 March, or whenever it is covered in snow and ice. Services on the parkway run only from early May to mid-October, so in winter the 232 km between Lake Louise and Jasper have no fuel, food or rooms, and no cell coverage either: the limited signal at the icefield is available only from May to early October. The 38 avalanche paths are no-stopping zones, and the road can close for weather or avalanche control, as it did in March 2026.

Getting there

The Discovery Centre is on Highway 93 North, the Icefields Parkway, 128 km from Lake Louise and 104 km from Jasper by Parks Canada’s count; Pursuit puts it about two and a half hours north of Banff and an hour south of Jasper. A national park pass is required to drive the parkway even if you never stop, CA$12.25 an adult a day in 2026, and no attraction ticket includes it. There is no public transit. The Icefields Parkway page covers the drive and its rules, and the Banff to Jasper guide the stops in order.

Who the ticket suits

It suits drivers on the parkway who want the glacier underfoot and the Skywalk in one visit, and have three hours to spare. Without a car, a day trip from Banff with the ticket included is simpler; tours from Banff to the icefield and back take 8 to 10.5 hours. To walk on the glacier rather than ride, Icewalks’ guided hike does that. If you only want the view, buy the Skywalk alone, and the toe-of-the-glacier trail costs nothing beyond the pass.

The ticket, and five more ways to the icefield

This site is not affiliated with Pursuit, which runs the Columbia Icefield Adventure and the Skywalk; the tickets on this page are booked through GetYourGuide.

The ticket on this page is Pursuit Collection’s Columbia Icefield Skywalk and Ice Explorer Ticket, from US$96 as of October 2026 and rated 4.6 from 3,362 reviews. It covers the Ice Explorer with live English commentary, the Skywalk with a multilingual audio guide, and the shuttles from the Discovery Centre. It has no free cancellation, and transport to the Discovery Centre is not included. Weather can move or cancel a tour, so the listing suggests booking your first available day to leave time to reschedule, with a refund if that is not possible. It also warns that the attraction can be crowded and suggests a later-afternoon visit.

The calendar on this page shows next season’s dates once they are on sale. If you will be driving the Icefields Parkway between 1 May and 11 October 2027 and want both the glacier and the Skywalk, this is the ticket to book.

See dates for the Ice Explorer and Skywalk →

The Skywalk on its own (from US$36, 4.3 from 1,069 reviews) is also sold by Pursuit Collection, with the shuttle from the Discovery Centre and an audio guide; it has no free cancellation and may not run in bad weather.

Icewalks’ guided glacier hike (from US$97, 4.9 from 111 reviews) is a three-hour guided walk of about 5 km return with 200 m of climb, with micro-spikes, boots and rain gear provided. You meet the vans in the Icefield Centre parking lot on the north side of the highway, and getting there is up to you. It is not for children under 7, people over 75, or anyone with heart problems or low fitness, and at about 2,000 m some people feel short of breath. Icewalks’ own site gives its season as late May to early October; its half-day tours run until 12 October in 2026.

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; cancellation is free up to three days before. Pursuit Collection’s own tour from Banff (from US$287, 4.9 from 26 reviews) adds hotel pickup in Banff and a hot buffet lunch at the Discovery Centre. Both include the Adventure, which reopens on 1 May 2027.

Matrix Tours & Travel Ltd’s Calgary and Banff day (from US$55, 4.8 from 212 reviews) picks up in Calgary, Canmore and Banff, but the Ice Explorer and Skywalk tickets are not included. Its listing says the Columbia Icefield and Skywalk close from 13 October to 3 May; Pursuit’s published opening day for 2027 is 1 May.