Probably the most accessible of Columbia Icefield's glaciers, Athabasca Glacier is classified as an outlet valley glacier covering 2.5 square miles with a depth ranging from 270 to 1000 feet. In this photo you can just make out the melt pond at the glacier's toe. The lateral moraine marks the glacier's sides. Way up, where white ice meets blue sky is the edge of the Columbia Icefield. The Icefield covers some 130 square miles and the melting snow from it flows into the Pacific, Arctic, and Atlantic oceans.
|