Canada’s Icefields Parkway Is an Epic Winter Drive

One of the spectacular drives on the earth is lined with glaciers you possibly can see out of your automobile—year-round. However in winter, the impact is magnified with the addition of snow-covered peaks and frozen waterfalls, typically being scaled by ice climbers. 

The Icefields Parkway (Freeway 93 North) connects two of Canada’s jewels: Banff Nationwide Park and Jasper Nationwide Park. The almost 145-mile drive passes by huge and wild terrain, offering an important visible reward for little or no effort. From the heat of your automobile, you possibly can see the Crowfoot Glacier, the frozen Bow Lake, and Tangle Falls, an mountaineering haven. You may even stand on the foot of the good Athabasca Glacier, which feels huge however is absolutely simply one of many six “toes” of the Columbia Icefield, the most important icefield within the Rocky Mountains.

The journey begins within the hamlet of Lake Louise, simply north of Banff, and continues to Jasper. Alongside the drive, you’ll witness a winter wonderland of ice-covered lakes, icefalls, and nice blue glaciers surrounded by an infinite lineup of mountain peaks. It’s a frozen dream come to life.

Listed below are some tips about how one can finest get pleasure from this iconic drive.

Trails Off the Icefields Parkway

In the event you’re prepared to enterprise out of your automobile on foot, snowshoes, or skis, there may be much more to discover. A 0.4-mile path from a chosen car parking zone off the parkway results in a lookout over Peyto Lake, one of the crucial photographed websites within the Canadian Rockies. On the Saskatchewan River Crossing, remember to pull over, step exterior, and stroll a brief distance from the highway to soak up views of the expansive intersection of the Saskatchewan and Howse river valleys. 

These with a bit extra time can hit the slopes on the Lake Louise Ski Resort close to the Icefield Parkway’s southern begin.

Ice Climbing Off the Icefields Parkway

On this nook of Canada, you’ll discover a lifetime’s value of mountaineering routes. “The mountaineering is absolutely good, arguably the most effective on the earth when it comes to entry and the size of the season and the amount and high quality. It is fairly exhausting to beat,” Braeden Ennis, a former information with Alpine Air Adventures, instructed Journey + Leisure.

One such instance of accessible mountaineering within the area is Tangle Falls, which is ready proper off the parkway, 85 miles north of Lake Louise. The climbing is taken into account straightforward, even for novices, though except you might be extraordinarily skilled and have all your personal gear, you’ll need to ebook a information. (We suggest Alpine Air Adventures.)

Different harder routes off the parkway embody Shades of Magnificence, Kerkeslin Falls, and Curtain Name.

Sensible Data

The drive, which is surrounded by wilderness, is much more untamed within the winter. And whereas a drive beneath 145 miles might not seem to be a lot, you need to give your self a full day to journey one-way as a result of there’s a lot to do and see on the Icefields Parkway. Listed below are our prime suggestions:

• To drive the Icefields Parkway, you’ll want a Canadian nationwide park move, which will be bought on-line or on the parks’ customer facilities.
• The parkway’s roadside companies—assume roadside motels, eating places, fuel stations, and present retailers—shut in September and don’t reopen till June.
• There isn’t any cell service.
• Contemplate wrapping up your journey within the morning. In the course of the winter months, there is no highway upkeep on the Icefields Parkway between 3:30 p.m. and seven a.m. each day.
• At all times verify the climate and highway circumstances on 511 Alberta earlier than you depart. 
• Earlier than you allow your level of origin, replenish your gas tank and buy loads of water and meals. You must also pack further heat garments in case of an emergency and for any out-of-the-car outings you will have deliberate. Even roadside viewpoints will be chilly and infrequently have uneven surfaces.