Alberta Hiking Resources
Trip Reports

Icefields Parkway and the Columbia Icefield

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Trip reports and GPS traces by objective along the Icefields Parkway, the Wapta, and the Columbia Icefield.

191 objectives indexed from 12 blogs, 116 of them with reports from more than one.

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Each entry links every trip report, video, or GPS trace the indexed blogs published for that objective. Hover a link to see the report’s own title, which is how combined trips and traverses show what else they cover.

Where an objective is on one of the four tick-lists, that is marked after the links: Kane and Nugara for scrambles and Don’t Waste Your Time for hikes, each carrying the book’s own grade, and the 11,000ers carrying the peak’s elevation. None of the three books is published online, and the 11,000ers is not a book at all, so every mark links to Adam Laycock’s page for that objective, which is the best canonical reference there is for one. Where there is a book, the route description is in it.

The line under each entry says who puts it where. Where the sources agree, that is one region with several names. Where they disagree, the objective is listed on every region page named, and the line links the others: the blogs file Bow Peak under both Banff and the Icefields Parkway, so it is on both pages.

A region marked inferred is not stated by any blog. It was worked out from where the blogs place the objectives around it: those climbed in the same trip, those a report links to, those near its trailhead, or those near where its name is on the map. Checked against objectives the blogs do place, these are right about nine times in ten, so treat one as a pointer rather than a fact. One marked weakly inferred rests on thinner or split evidence — a single linked report, a trailhead between two regions — and is only used where nothing else places the objective, so it may be listed under each region it could be in. Place-name positions are from the Canadian Geographical Names Database, under the Open Government Licence – Canada, and south of the border from the USGS Geographic Names Information System.

A

  • Achilles Spire — Andrew Nugara
    • Icefields Parkway and the Columbia Icefield: weakly inferred from 4 of the 5 placed Andrew Nugara reports it links to · Banff National Park: weakly inferred from 5 of the 5 placed Andrew Nugara reports it links to
  • Arctomys Peak (Lyell Group) — Explor8ion, Steven Song
    • Icefields Parkway and the Columbia Icefield: Steven Song; inferred from where the name is on the map · Banff National Park: Explor8ion
  • Arete Peak — Explor8ion
    • Icefields Parkway and the Columbia Icefield: Explor8ion
  • Athabasca Glacier Snowcoach Tour — On-Top
    • Icefields Parkway and the Columbia Icefield: inferred from On-Top’s trailhead
  • August Peak — Andrew Nugara
    • Icefields Parkway and the Columbia Icefield: weakly inferred from 5 of the 5 placed Andrew Nugara reports it links to · David Thompson Country and the Bighorn: weakly inferred from 4 of the 5 placed Andrew Nugara reports it links to
  • Ayesha Peak — Explor8ion, Steven Song
    • Icefields Parkway and the Columbia Icefield: Explor8ion; inferred from where the name is on the map

B

C

D

E

F

  • Farbus Mountain (Alexandra Group) — Explor8ion, Steven Song
    • Icefields Parkway and the Columbia Icefield: Steven Song; inferred from where the name is on the map · Banff National Park: Explor8ion
  • Flat Ridge — Steven Song
    • Icefields Parkway and the Columbia Icefield: Steven Song
  • Fortress Mountain — Explor8ion, Steven Song
    • Icefields Parkway and the Columbia Icefield: Explor8ion, Steven Song; inferred from where the name is on the map

H

  • Hector Lower South Ridge — Bob Spirko
    • Icefields Parkway and the Columbia Icefield: set by hand
  • Helen Lake — Adam Laycock, On-Top · Don’t Waste Your Time — Premiere
    • Icefields Parkway and the Columbia Icefield: Adam Laycock; Adam Laycock’s tick-lists; inferred from On-Top’s trailhead
  • Helen-Kate Ridge — Bob Spirko
    • Icefields Parkway and the Columbia Icefield: set by hand
  • Hilda Peak — Steven Song
    • Icefields Parkway and the Columbia Icefield: Steven Song
  • Howse Peak — Steven Song
    • Icefields Parkway and the Columbia Icefield: Steven Song

I

J

  • Jimmy Junior — Andrew Nugara, Andrew Nugara, Andrew Nugara
    • Icefields Parkway and the Columbia Icefield: weakly inferred from 17 of the 19 placed Andrew Nugara reports it links to · Banff National Park: weakly inferred from 15 of the 18 placed Andrew Nugara reports it links to
  • Jimmy Simpson Jr. — Bob Spirko
    • Icefields Parkway and the Columbia Icefield: set by hand

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Reports are the authors’ own accounts of one day in particular conditions, not route descriptions that stay true. Check current conditions and carry the judgement the terrain needs.

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