Marcia is posing at the icefall of the Athabasca Glacier, about 7000 ft elevation.
The Athabasca is an outlet glacier spilling over from the Columbia Icefields. The Columbia Icefields fill the area between the peaks and are massive; as the ice builds some of it spills over through passes, feeding most of the glaciers in this area.
Athabasca has retreated 1500 meters since the late 19th century, the retreat accelerating greatly during the 20th century. It was chilly but well above freezing where Marcia is pictured, but extremely cold and windy where we walked on the glacier. We were given 20 minutes but 10 were enough because of the cold. The cones mark areas of weak ice and safe paths, and if you don’t pay attention you may become wet as well as cold.
We were on the toe of the glacier. You may faintly see our ice-cat path in Marcia’s picture, entering from the left side and climbing slightly toward the right.
The picture of our trailer at the glacier was taken the next day, as we left for Jasper.
those glacier buses look familiar!
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