Nature
The Columbia Icefield spans the Continental Divide on the Alberta-British Columbia border in Banff and Jasper national parks and, at about 325 square kilometres, is the largest ice field in North America’s Rocky Mountains. Built over long glacial periods on broad, erosion-resistant rock layers, it feeds six major glaciers and sends water toward the Arctic Ocean, Hudson Bay, and the Pacific, making it part of a rare triple divide. After the Athabasca Glacier peaked around 1800, long recession began and continues today. Late European recording, important mountaineering expeditions, and a landmark 1932 ski crossing helped make it a defining landscape of the Canadian Rockies.
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Alberta · Canada
