Howard L.
Yelp
A trip to the Columbia Icefield is a must do if in the Banff and/or Jasper area. Our 125 mile drive up from Lake Louise was on the Icefields Parkway and it was one of, if not the, most scenic drives I have ever experienced. The Parkway drive is an integral part of the Icefield experience. As far as the icefield itself, it was a fantastic experience to actually walk on a massive glacier and also have a drink of the pristine glacial water right from the source (so good, cold, and refreshing!). It was windy and cold for our visit, but we were adequately dressed for it. It was actually a bit slushy by where the vehicles parked and our regular gym shoes got wet but not enough to soak our socks fortunately. Our tour guide told us he had never experienced such slushy conditions, but it got drier after walking maybe 100 feet away from the vehicles and towards the glacier source. You have to stay within a good sized roped off area which is checked every day for deep, dangerous, and potentially deadly crevices.
Getting to the Athabasca glacier aboard an Ice Explorer vehicle was also very interesting. There are only 23 of these specialized machines designed for glacier travel and 21 of them are located here at the Columbia Icefield and the other 2 are in Antarctica. It's a 6 wheel drive vehicle with 6 monstrous wheels and it can travel up or down a 35 degree incline, granted at only 5 mph, but it was a fascinating and impressive ride going to and fro. Besides the glacier walk, there is also an attraction on the site called the Skywalk, and which has its own review site. In fact, the way the Icefield tickets are structured, it's a mandatory visit as the bus will take you there from the glacier and not to the visitors center, and you take another bus back to the visitors center from the Skywalk.
Besides these two main attractions, the visitors center has a couple of cafeteria style restaurants and they are quite capable of handling the big crowds here. I had a pizza slice ($13 CAD or $9.60 USD) for lunch and it hit the spot for me. You can also enjoy some great views of the Athabasca glacier while having your lunch.