Hi Steemians !
Nestled between the peaks of Mount Columbia and and Mount Athabasca, along the Alberta and British-Columbia border lies another of our great iconic Canadian landscape, the Columbia Icefield. Formed during the great glaciation period (238,000-126,000 bc) covers over 300 square kilometers of ice terrain and can reach a dept of up to 440 meters in it's deepest glaciers. Columbia Icefield contains several glaciers including the popular tourist attractions of Athabasca, Saskatchewan and Dome glaciers.
shot 1/125 sec. f/5.6 48mm , ISO 200
The cluster of glaciers receives about 7 meters of snowfall every winter and recedes during the summer months supplying much of the prairies and western Canada with a fresh water supply via the Saskatchewan river, Athabasca river and the Great Slave Lake river to eventually end up in 3 separate oceans, the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic ocean respectively . This phenomenon is called the hydro graphic apex of North-America. The only other discovered comparable phenomenon is located in Siberia.
shot 1/500 sec. f/5.6 98mm , ISO 320
Located both in Banff and Jasper National parks, this gem is hard to access in the winter months because of icy and snowy mountain pass ( doesn't stop us any hehe) The Athabasca glacier is the easiest to get to and can be seen and accessed via the icefield parkway ( the highway). It is open for self guided hikes, much of it remains behind barriers because as the glacier recedes it covers the crevasse filled glaciers with a layer of sediment deposits covering also called till making it hard to distinguish from solid ground to glacier. All other glaciers must be accessed on guided tours aboard a snow coach from spring(may) to mid fall (october).
shot 1/500 sec. f/5.6 85mm , ISO 320
The pictures above are taken mid fall, in the summer it offers a barren landscape as it continues to recede. There hasn't been any growth to the glaciers since the mid 1800's . The glaciers have since receded over one and a half kilometer. The first 2 pictures represent 2 types of glacier formations, the ice fields( long shelf) and ice caps at the bottom of the pictures (dome shaped).
view of lateral mauraines and probably the most popular photograph view due to ease of access
Mauraines are the till deposited by the glacial streams during the melting season forming ridges or extensions of the mountain sides(lateral mauraine) . They are not permanent and can be demolished in the event the glacier begins to grow pass the natural barrier. The terminal mauraine is the ridge that forms at the very end of the glacier marking it's furthest extensions and commonly used by scientist and geologist to study the glacier's recession over large time periods.
partial view of the terminal mauraine
The picture above depicts how far the glacier used to reach about a century and a half ago at it's peak size now the terminal mauraine must be climbed in order to access where the glacier receded to( about a 15-20 min climb).
ice cave in formation
The picture above is a perfect representation as to why it his important to stay withing the indicated barriers, under the till sits more of the glacier and is hard to distinguish crevasses that may be hidden under the mauraine. I have the appropriate photo equipment to take close ups without getting myself in a danger zone. Many people have been injured while taking unnecessary risks and not respecting the boundaries set by proper officials.
the small rock structure is called Inukshuk (manmade)
I never had the chance to go on the glacier coach tour yet, it is in my future plans, given the proximity of the Rockies (about 4 hours drive from home) I get to go often enough to thoroughly explore different areas and part take in different activities every time I visit. Given the tourist hot spots, the guided tours and similar activities are very pricey so I stick to one big ticket tour/activity per trip and do self tours and hikes for the rest of the journey. I highly recommend visiting if you ever take a trip to the Rockies but this is a disappearing landscape due to global warming so time is of the essence.
what are your thoughts on global warming? is it : A natural phenomenon due to happen regardless of human activity? Is it caused by our actions and industrialization? do you think it's nothing but a hoax? Maybe you just never given it any thought at all?
All photos were taken with Nikon D7000 with various Nikkor and Sigma lenses ranging from 10mm to 300 mm. I do not have specs for some of the pictures lost on my fried hard drive as I had to retrieve them from my personal facebook account.
I hope you enjoyed the virtual tour!
until next time, cheers! xox