Pursuit - Columbia Icefield Adventure Tour Road Maintenance Program

Pursuit has been operating the Columbia Icefield Adventure Tour on the Athabasca Glacier in Jasper National Park under a master agreement with Parks Canada since 1995. The tour takes guests on a 90-minute tour from the Glacier Discovery Centre to an observation area on the Athabasca Glacier, via bus to a Transfer Bay staging area and then in an all-terrain Ice-Explorer vehicle along a rock cut road across a scree slope, glacial moraine and to an observation area on the glacier itself.

This project considers the past and future maintenance activities required to maintain the moraine and ice portions of the road and observation area utilized by the Ice-Explorer vehicles. These dynamic road segments have been constructed on moraine features and the Athabasca Glacier and are subject to freeze-thaw, mass wasting and glacial processes that are continually altering the landscape. To maintain safe operating conditions for the glacier tour, dynamic road segments require regular, routine adjustments and re-alignment within a dynamic footprint boundary. Over time, these segments may fluctuate in size and location to accommodate operational constraints.

Pursuit is proposing to continue the maintenance activities for the dynamic sections of road that they are already undertaking. They are not proposing new maintenance activities for the road. They will complete a Basic Impact Assessment to fill in knowledge gaps and provide a fuller understanding of valued components, potential impacts, and mitigation measures for their maintenance and operations in order to continue the glacier tour in subsequent years.

More

Latest update

March 10, 2024 – The public comment period on the project is closed. Parks Canada is considering comments received to help inform its determination on whether the carrying out of the project is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.

Participate

Key documents

Key documents
Document Number Document Title File Date
1 New project being assessed by Parks Canada - Public comments invited from February 9 to March 10, 2024 - February 9, 2024

Contacts

Jasper National Park
Box 10
Jasper, Alberta T0E 1E0
Telephone: 780-852-6141
Email: evaluationdimpactjasper-jasperimpactassessment@pc.gc.ca


  • Location

    • Jasper National Park of Canada (Alberta)

  • Nature of Activity

    • Recreation and Tourism

  • Assessment Status

    In progress

  • Start Date

    2024-02-09

  • Proponent

    Pursuit Collection

  • Authorities

    • Parks Canada Agency

  • Assessment Type

    Project on federal lands

  • Reference Number

    87317
Disclaimer

This map is for illustrative purposes. The markers represent the approximate locations based on available data. More than one marker may be identified for a given assessment.

 

Nearby assessments

...within 200 kilometres
Report a problem on this page
Date modified: