page_title: Columbia Icefield
section_title: Glaciers
hierarchical_section_title: Columbia Icefield / Glaciers
caption_attribution_description: English: A Terra Bus near the Columbia Icefield in Canada.
context_page_description: The Columbia Icefield is the largest ice field in North America's Rocky Mountains. Located within the Canadian Rocky Mountains astride the Continental Divide of the Americas along the border of British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, the ice field lies partly in the northwestern tip of Banff National Park and partly in the southern end of Jasper National Park.
context_section_description: The icefield feeds six major glaciers:
  Athabasca Glacier
  Castleguard Glacier
  Columbia Glacier
  Dome Glacier
  Stutfield Glacier
  Saskatchewan Glacier
  Parts of the Icefield are visible from the Icefields Parkway.  The Athabasca Glacier has receded significantly since its greatest modern-era extent in 1844.  During the summer months visitors to the area can travel onto the glacier in the comfort of large "snowcoaches".  The Columbia Icefield is also a major destination for ski mountaineering in the winter months.
  The icefield was first reported in 1898 by J. Norman Collie and Hermann Woolley after they had completed the first ascent of Mount Athabasca.
  The Athabasca River and the North Saskatchewan River originate in the Columbia Icefield, as do tributary headwaters of the Columbia River. As the icefield is atop a triple Continental Divide these waters flow ultimately north to the Arctic Ocean,  east to Hudson Bay (and thence to the North Atlantic Ocean), and south and west to the Pacific Ocean. Hudson Bay, in some watershed divisions, is considered to be in the Arctic watershed, in which case this would arguably not be a triple continental divide point.
caption: Athabasca Glacier snow coach
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