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Columbia Ice Fields

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 3:29 pm
by vintage AE
Thought I'd share a recent trip the wifey and I went on. This one was actually on my bucket list, not that I have a bucket list, but I really wanted to walk on a glacier at some point in my life.

For those who don't know, the Columbia Icefield is in the Canadian Rockies. It lies partly in the northwestern tip of Banff National Park and the southern end of Jasper National Park. To quote wikipedia "It is about 325 kmĀ² in area, 100 to 365 metres (328 to 1,197 ft) in depth and receives up to seven metres (275 in) of snowfall per year. The icefield feeds eight major glaciers". It not only lies on a Continental divide, but is a triple divide, feeding waterways to the Pacific, Atlantic and the Arctic oceans.

Anyways, some pretty cool shiz happening here, but even better are the 6x6 buses. Climbing and descending slopes of 20 degrees and driving on glaciers was pretty bad ass.

I got the best seat on the bus, the elevated last row new to a window, one that opened! Here is a link to a video were we drive off the ground and onto the glacier.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152565492040429

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Flexing
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Wifey wasn't as excited as I was :lol:
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Re: Columbia Ice Fields

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 3:34 pm
by klavy69
Cool trip Anthony...no pun intended :)

Todd

Re: Columbia Ice Fields

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 3:51 pm
by DennisM
Looks like a nice trip - I think I need a bus now 8)

Re: Columbia Ice Fields

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 5:14 pm
by vintage AE
Todd, it was cool in many ways! At least 10-15 degrees C difference from the highest elevations.
Those buses were cool too. $5000/tire :shock:

We went up a gondola in Jasper too
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I wanted to do this trail at the top of the gondola, but we didn't bring a winter jacket on our summer trip.

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Re: Columbia Ice Fields

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 9:48 pm
by Oozzee
that looks absolutely amazing, would be a wonderful thing to do

Re: Columbia Ice Fields

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 11:23 pm
by vintage AE
oh yeah, there was also a glass bottom walkway, aka The Sky Walk, which you can fit the Empire State Building under. That was great too, even tho the wifey didn't like it as much as I did.

It was a pretty good trip. The best part was that we came back to the hotel where a brew pub, Jasper Brewing Co, was just around the corner.

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Re: Columbia Ice Fields

Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2014 12:24 am
by R Cane
So now you just need to build an RC model of one of those buses...

Re: Columbia Ice Fields

Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2014 12:45 am
by Daryl Lane
Amazing picture - wonderful place, thank you for sharing. I think I need to put this on my to see list!

Re: Columbia Ice Fields

Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2014 1:45 am
by Diamond Dave
Daryl Lane wrote:Amazing picture - wonderful place, thank you for sharing. I think I need to put this on my to see list!
Daryl, just do it. You have a daughter out on an adventure, take a week to do the same. You will not regret it.

I have been to the glacier fields quite a few times, never gets old.

I have heard about the skywalk, never been yet. I will def go after seeing the pics Anthony, thanks for posting them.