The Columbia Icefield Adventure tour…
The Columbia Icefield Adventure tour includes a less than 2-3 minute drive on the ice and 20 minute timed stay on a roped off, approximately 800 square foot area of the glacier. There were approximately 100 other people there and at least 3 ice explorer vehicles at the same time when we visited for the “Columbia Icefield Adventure” tour. The entire setting resembled a busy downtown intersection rather than the “epic 2-3 hour adventure” advertised. The crowd, highly impacted terrain, and the <3 min time driving on the glacier are not described at all on Pursuit’s website nor shown in the website photos. Most of the 2-3 hours is actually spent on road tour buses going to and from the POI’s. When I provided this feedback to Pursuit, the feedback was, “Access to the glacier is limited to a designated area and time on the ice is carefully managed so all guests have the opportunity to enjoy it.” However, the glacier is many square miles in size and there are many other ways to “enjoy it”. The real reason for the “careful management” and lack of transparency about the tour physical and time limitations is likely to maximize visitor throughput, minimize the expense of the tour to Pursuit, and ultimately maximize profit. If we had known about the 3 min transit time and the <20 minute glacier visit time (this is only provided in the FAQ’s but not in the tour description), we would have certainly looked into other options. This is unfortunate, as the glacier itself is amazing to visit and, as an alternative (physical limitations not withstanding), can be done for free by hiking <1 mile to the outflow (no walking on glacier) or through a professionally guided glacier hike (3 hours walking on glacier vs 20 min). In fact, a professionally guided 3 hour tour is 20% less expensive that the 20 minute glacier stay described above. In retrospect, we sincerely regret not having selected this option.
