The new Glacier Skywalk in Jasper National Park

[WTTG]

So, what do you think?

Will you try it out?

Global Okanagan

April 25, 2014 6:21 am

VIRTUAL TOUR: The new Glacier Skywalk in Jasper National Park

http://globalnews.ca/news/1291122/watch-a-virtual-tour-of-jasper-national-parks-new-glacier-skywalk/

CALGARY – After two years of construction, the Glacier Skywalk opens to the public on May 1st, 2014.

The $21 million cliff-edge walkway in Jasper National Park includes a glass platform that hovers 280 metres over the Sunwapta Valley.

(181,000) Critics of the project feel it will have a long-term impact on wildlife in the region, and say more development of the largely untouched national park wasn’t necessary (http://noglacierskywalk.ca/Announcement.html).

However, officials say wildlife won’t be affected.

“We’ve had our monitors up here for three years pre-construction,” explains Brewster Travel Canada Communications Manager Juliette Recompsat. “They’ll continue three years post construction just to confirm the movements of the animals here have not been affected by the construction.”

Six interactive displays are set up along the walkway, designed to educate visitors on the importance of the region.

An adult ticket for the Skywalk costs $24.95, and a child ticket is $12.50. Infants 0-5 get free admission.

[Captain Awesome]

This looks pretty cool, I must say.

[Bsuds]

You would never get my wife out on that!

[Captain Awesome]

You would never get my wife out on that!

It can be your safe place then. Just needs TV, beer, and ... whatever you old people are into.

[WTTG]

... whatever you old people are into.

Gotta be something more there to do for my 25 bucks, plus my park fee and transportation down the Parkway.

Drive golf balls.
Get rid of our smilies.
Prolly just wedges though.
And they could put in a putting hole.
Wait! Points for how many mountain goats you can bounce the ball off.

How about bowling.
My hook shot might really pay off.
Ah, my loft could be too dangerous.

We'll leave the bungees and freebase to you youngsters.
But it would be fun to watch.

[grammafreddy]

I'd be cowering with Sudsy's wife.

[WTTG]

Jasper Environmental Association

Brewster’s New Attraction

Updated May 12, 2014

http://www.jasperenvironmental.org/jea-blog/

“Flat.Out.Awesome.”?

Brewster Travel Canada sees their Glacier Skywalk as a ‘visceral edge-of-the-wilderness experience strengthening visitors’ connection to the national parks,’ but the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) sees it as a ‘high threat’ to the ecological integrity of this World Heritage Site.

Opposition to it was certainly ‘visceral’: 190,000 people signed an on-line petition against it in a six-week period in 2012 and Parks Canada admitted it received over 2000 letters opposing it ¬– but then approved it anyway.

It is now open for business beside the Icefields Parkway and this member of the JEA decided to take a look at this ‘awe-inspiring experience featuring the only unobstructed, completely accessible glacier view in the world!’

Let’s get this straight: the only glaciers visible from the skywalk are two small ones remaining on the sides of Mounts Athabasca and Andromeda, seven km further south. The major Athabasca Glacier can only be seen from the Icefields Centre, not from the skywalk.

So, harbouring a certain amount of skepticism I drove down the spectacular Icefields Parkway. About 90 km south of Jasper at the top of the steep Tangle Falls hill, where visitors heading south once caught their first sight of Mounts Athabasca and Andromeda, and where motorhomes with overheating engines could pull off onto a large parking lot, a futuristic-looking bus shelter now blocks the view and a chain-link fence runs the length of the ridge. No stopping allowed.


2011 parking lot with mountain goat


Brewster Skywalk bus shelter



So, on down the hill, 6 km to the Icefields Centre and a long climb up the stairs to purchase a ticket. The shuttle bus with 55 passengers took 10 minutes to grind back up the same hill I had just driven down. At the left turn into the drop-off area the bus waited for oncoming cars climbing the hill to pass. It will be interesting to see how long the wait will be in summer with bumper-to-bumper tourist traffic.

In a cloud of diesel exhaust fumes from two tour buses with idling engines I started along a 400 m concrete walkway. I was handed an audio self-guided phone system so I could join the other zombie-like figures listening expressionlessly to remote voices from the phone system’s headquarters in Toronto describing fossils, mammals, birds, vegetation and glaciers of Jasper National Park.


The 400 meter walkway with display shelter

At the end of the walkway I found myself having to face the ‘Flat. Out. Awesome’ skywalk. I have a strong dislike of heights so my first step onto this structure hanging 280 m above the slopes of the Sunwapta canyon was cautious. I need not have worried. It was easy to ignore it.


The Glacier Skywalk


Sunwapta Creek from the skywalk

Halfway round I took in the scenery instead and photographed Mounts Athabasca and Andromeda. I later compared them with images taken from the old, now obliterated, parking lot. They were virtually identical – only this time they cost $26.20.


View of Mounts Athabasca and Andromeda in 2011 from the old parking lot


View of Mounts Athabasca and Andromeda from the skywalk 2014

I searched the slopes for mountain goats but they were not there. Brewster describes the site as a place ‘where it’s so hard to survive that adaptation never stops.’ Maybe the goats will have to adapt to this unfathomable addition to what was once part of their important habitat by going somewhere else.

All of the free-standing exhibits on this site are constructed of a kind of weathering steel that eliminates the need for painting but it still has the same unattractive, mottled effect of rusty metal. The life-size incarnations of Jasper’s mammals are almost grotesquely comical. How is this pile of what looks suspiciously like scrap metal meant to “strengthen visitors’ connection to the national parks”?


The harsh reality of metal walls


Black bear display


Mountain goat display

One can only hope that in future those in charge of the stewardship of our national parks and World Heritage Sites will examine more carefully the spin-doctored flowery language of business interests that just want to use these irreplaceable protected places as cash cows for their shareholders.

This Glacier Skywalk is purely a thrill-based attraction and is so far removed from anything natural that it is a relief to look up over the discoloured metal walls at the glorious snow-covered peaks and know they will still be there when this $21m monument to the hubris of a corporation has finally collapsed into Sunwapta Creek.

[Glacier]

That looks pretty cool. I will be there in a couple of months! I will post pictures.

[WTTG]

That looks pretty cool. I will be there in a couple of months! I will post pictures.

And you expect the difference in scenery had you stopped at the outlook when it was public and taken pictures before the construction will be . . .?

[Lady tehMa]

And you expect the difference in scenery had you stopped at the outlook when it was public and taken pictures before the construction will be . . .?

Why would that matter, if one had never stopped before? I don't know if Glacier has or not, but I've never been. I do hope to swing by that way one day, and until then I am looking forward to Glacier's pics.

[Glacier]

Nope, I've never been there, but had already planned a trip up that highway 3 months ago. Didn't even know about this attraction until I saw this thread.

[WTTG]

And you expect the difference in scenery had you stopped at the outlook when it was public and taken pictures before the construction will be . . .?

Nope, I've never been there, but had already planned a trip up that highway 3 months ago. Didn't even know about this attraction until I saw this thread.

Why would that matter, if one had never stopped before? I don't know if Glacier has or not, but I've never been. I do hope to swing by that way one day, and until then I am looking forward to Glacier's pics.

I sincerely apologize to both of you. I erroneously assumed the previous political contention over this project is well known.

And, although from your unsullied replies here, I realize it's probably past time for me to dump my pugilistic attitude towards the project, here is a link to the controversy just so you know where I used to be coming from.

http://noglacierskywalk.ca/

So, Glacier, sorry I bugged you the way I did.

And great! Glad you heard it here first! I sincerely hope you'll enjoy your trip—as I see it now, the horse has left the barn in the battle with Parks Canada over this new development and all that, and I know Jasper National Park will appreciate the portion of revenue they will receive from your travels and partnership purchases.

So, please, I hope you’ll forgive me and post a narrative of your overall experience to go along with your pictures.

And, if you or anyone else (Lady tehMa) is going up the Parkway to Jasper from the south, please consider stopping at Petyo Lake before you get to the Icefield; Athabasca Falls after the Icefield; and then Maligne Canyon just east of the Jasper Townsite. All have awesome views directly below your feet. Again, please, it would be nice to hear what you think of those ‘free public’ attractions in comparison to the ‘privatized’ Skywalk.

Thanks.

And just for fun in the ashes, here’s one of my former gripes about the ‘Glacier Discovery Walk project,’ now known as the Glacier Skywalk project, from 2011.

. . . Brewster has argued they will use land already disturbed by the Icefield Parkway highway construction (1). This is true, but then, whereas other developers have increased services to Jasper tourists, Brewster has actually proposed a decrease in service. They wish to forbid any public parking at the viewpoint . . . as a means to gain space for their operation (2). This will eliminate the present wider choice and ability we all have to pull off, exit or dismount our vehicles, and enjoy the view as a peaceful and natural experience all on our own accord. Brewster’s statistics indicate that 82,467 people per year visit the viewpoint now, but by extrapolation it appears that 52,987 or 64% of present users will choose not to visit the viewpoint or their new attraction after the change is made (3). For this reason, their project seems to be unduly sovereignistic when the sovereignty over the viewpoint belongs to all Canadians and is entrusted to the stewardship of Parks Canada. . . .


1. Jalkotzy M, Plishka M, Knopff K. Canadian environmental assessment act screening: glacier discovery walk. M. Golder Associates Ltd. 2011 November; 1.1 p. 1.
2. Ibid.; 3.5.1, p. 13.
3. Salt Marketing. Glacier discovery walk (GDW) survey results summary. From M. Golder Associates Ltd. Canadian environmental assessment act screening: glacier discovery walk. Submitted to Dave McKenna, Brewster Travel Canada, Banff, Alberta. 2011 November; Appendix A, p. 2.

Thank goodness all that is water under the bridge now.

I hope everyone from all over the World will enjoy our National and Historic Parks this summer and in the future. Parks Canada needs all the spiritual support it can get.

Jumpin', you should have seen the joy on the park gate attendant's face when I bought my annual pass for this year. I gave him the peace sign. Here it is to you, too. Y