A scientific study has raised some alarm bells that instability at the Athabasca Glacier may be hazardous for Brewster Canada’s ice explorer tourist operation.
The study says the progressive deformation of the lateral moraine and its use as an access point to the glacier by the tour company brings into question whether the instability poses a hazard.
Brewster officials say they are planning to move the staging area on the moraine in the next few years to safer ground, but stress they plan to continue running their successful operation there for years to come.
Michael Hannan, the company’s president, said they have been working with a scientist on the ground for many years and are well aware of the situation.
“We’re fully, fully aware. We know the moraine is sliding and we monitor it very, very closely. This is not something new, this is no surprise to us,” he said.
“We’ve been operating it for 43 years and it’s been in operation for 65 years. This is business as usual… certainly in our life time, we will be there.”
The area in question is Brewster’s staging area beside the glacier. Tourists take a bus from the Icefields Centre to a staging area along the eastern lateral moraine, where they board the big Ice Explorer buses.
The scientific case study was published in Landslides in 2008. Its authors are Chris Hugenholtz, Brian Moorman, John Barlo and Pablo Wainstein.
Evidence shows that a 540-metre wide segment of the eastern lateral moraine began to deform in the early 1950s, however, significant movement only began in the 1960s.
The study says the moraine at the Athabasca Glacier has undergone progressive, large gravitational deformation, leading to a network of “fractures, bulging and development of a large gap in the moraine crest”.
The authors say they suspect the deformation may continue and, in fact, may accelerate as the glacier continues to recede up the valley.
They say the likelihood of increased rates of deformation should be factored into ongoing and future plans for vehicle access to the glacier, including the staging facility, which presently sits on the moraine, as well as tourist access to the terminus of the glacier, which will soon lie immediately below the deforming section of the moraine.
“As a major attraction with thousands of visitors travelling onto the glacier each day during the tourist season (April-October) via specialized mechanical vehicles, the moraine deformation raises concern as to the overall stability of slopes and the future viability of this operation,” they say.
“Despite the slow rate of deformation identified in this study, the potential for failure cannot be discounted.”
Ben Gadd, a local author, conservationist and natural history guide, said the study raises alarm bells.
“There is a risk that the whole staging area may suddenly break loose and slide onto the glacier. The scenario that comes to mind is catastrophic,” he said.
“Ice Explorers, shuttle buses, parking bays, park visitors and Brewster staff being swept 75 metres down to the ice in a slurry of mud and boulders…”
Hannan said an environmental assessment was completed and approved by Parks Canada in 2005, allowing them to move the staging area to a new location on bedrock.
“In 2014, we would be utilizing the new location. Once we’re on bedrock, we’re on terra firma. We won’t be on floating moraine at that point,” he said.
Sean Cardiff, Parks Canada’s manager of land use planning and policy in Jasper, said the agency hasn’t done any direct monitoring, noting they’re aware Brewster has commissioned a series of studies.
“Just about anywhere in the mountains, gravity is a hazard and there’s always a safety concern, but we understand those hazards and take mitigative actions if we need to,” he said.
“The reports from Brewster help quantify the risk and when the best timing is to move to an alternative staging area.”
Meanwhile, theories abound that one of the reasons Brewster is planning its suspended platform – billed as the Glacier Discovery Walk – is it provides a stepping stone to building an aerial tramway to Wilcox Pass.
Gadd also speculates one of the reasons behind Brewster’s proposal for the platform and walkway at the Kitchener viewpoint could be because it may be eventually forced to abandon its icefields operation.
“If Brewster cannot carry on business on the Athabasca Glacier, I imagine that it will be desperate to develop some other commercial attraction in the area that could replace lost revenue,” said Gadd.
Both Parks Canada and Brewster, though, say the idea of an aerial tramway or gondola is absolutely not on the table.
“It’s not something that is under consideration for us at all. We’re quite happy with how operations works today,” said Hannan.
“Have we considered it in the past? Not seriously. It’s certainly something that’s feasible, but one of the challenges of that is the visual aspect on the landscape,” he said.
Cardiff said Parks Canada may have been involved in “some very preliminary exploratory talks years ago” that never ended up being pursued.
“It’s just too speculative to say whether we would consider that or not,” he said.
