The Columbia Icefield is the heart of the Rockies, a huge sheet of ice that covers more than two hundred square kilometres and feeds at least half a dozen major glaciers. It is the largest icefield in the Rockies, and the Athabasca Glacier, one of its tongues, flows down almost to the roadside. You can see the ice from the car park, a grey-white wall tumbling down the mountain, its surface cracked and streaked with dirt. The glacier is retreating fast, having lost more than a kilometre since the nineteenth century, and signs by the road mark where its toe used to be.
The icefield is a hydrological apex, one of very few places in the world where meltwater flows to three different oceans. From its high ridge, water drains west to the Pacific by way of the Columbia, north to the Arctic by way of the Athabasca and Mackenzie, and east to the Atlantic via Hudson Bay on the Saskatchewan River. Few other places on the continent have such an unusual claim.
The Icefield Centre, across the road from the glacier, has exhibits, a cafe and a ticket office for tours. Special buses with huge tyres drive onto the glacier itself, and visitors can walk on the ice, although the tours are costly and bookable in advance. You can also walk up the glacier's moraine to the toe on your own, though you should stay behind the signs, because the ice has crevasses and meltwater channels, and people have died here.
For the rider, the Icefield stop is another highlight in a road full of highlights. The approach from the south climbs the Sunwapta valley with long views of glaciers hanging from the mountains. The road is wide and well graded, and there is a steep climb beside the Sunwapta Pass, then a pleasant run beside the Athabasca valley beyond. Weather is notoriously changeable at this height, and wind off the ice can be bitter, so wear layers even in August.
Fuel is not available here, so make sure the tank is full, with the last supply at the Saskatchewan River Crossing and the next at Jasper, about a hundred kilometres north. The best time for a visit is early morning or evening, when the buses are fewer and the light is gentler on the ice. In midsummer, the car park is a scene of organised chaos.