Canada Travel Photo Gallery

Icefields Parkway Jasper National Park

The Jasper National Park was founded in 1907 in the state of Alberta. It is the largest National Park in the Rocky Mountains. The Park was names after Jasper Hawes a trapper who built a base for the North West Company. The highlights of the park are the famous Maligne Lake with the very picturesque Spirit Island and the drive on the Icefield Park Way heading to the Columbia Icefield and the adjacent Banff National Park.

Driving over the Icefields Parkway through the magnificent mountain side in the south part of the Jasper National Park is absolutely beautiful. The snow covered mountain in the middle is Mound Andromeda (3450 m).

Panoramic view of Mount Athabasca (3491m) on the left and Mount Andromeda (3450) on the right when coming from the north on the Icefields Parkway. The best known attraction of the Jasper National Park the Athabasca Glacier is only a couple of kilometers away from this point.

The Athabasca Glacier is flanked by Mount Athabasca (3490m) on the left and the Mount Kitchener (3505m) on the right. The colour of the Athabasca Glacier is not a pristine white but grey because of the exhaust fumes from the “Snocoaches” which carries tourists over the ice of the glacier. The melt ice from the Athabasca Glacier flows into Lake Sunwapta. The British Columbia icefields are the biggest icefields in North America and outside of the polar region. Most of the icefields are hidden high up in the mountains. Only three glaciers can be seen from the Icefield Park Way Athabasca, Dome and Stutfield. For more information visit the Icefield Centre which has an interesting exhibition and films about the Icefield Park Way region.

The Jasper Park Information Centre is housed in a historical building and just opposite the train station. The train station was built in 1914 and today is also an attraction.

The Sunwapa River meanders through the wilderness fed by the melted ice from the Athabasca Glacier.