The Current - Climbing Canada’s melting glaciers

Episode Date: January 14, 2026

New research has found the amount of glacier ice lost in western Canada just in 2025 was 30 gigatonnes. That loss of ice isn’t just changing what the mountains look like, it’s also changing how dangerous they are. Professional mountain guides see the changes first-hand. We speak with Mike Adolph, the Technical Director of the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides, and Tim Ricci, the Director of Operations for Yamnuska Mountain Adventures about what the future of their jobs with warming climate looks like.

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This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. You ever been on a glacier before? They are vast and almost overwhelming places to be. They are also melting around the world, and they're shrinking dramatically in the Canadian Rockies. In British Columbia alone, there are more than 17,000 glaciers. Over the past 40 years, they've lost nearly a quarter of their surface area.

What does that mean? Well, here's another big number. new researchers found that the amount of glacier ice lost in Western Canada just last year in 2025 is 30 gigatons. What does that mean? It's enough ice to build 700 million hockey rinks. That loss of ice isn't just changing what the mountains look like. It's also changing how dangerous they are. As the ice retreats, it exposes loose rock, opens new crevasses, and destabilizes slopes that were once solid. This past June, a sudden landslide at Bow Glacier Falls in Alberta killed two people.

One of the hikers there on that day was Ellie Jackson. And I was facing away from the falls when I heard just kind of a cracking sound. And I knew immediately what that sound was was rock. But how loud the crack was, I looked over my shoulder. And the whole sheet of rock was coming off. And it looked like a multi-story building. And it just came down with such force and exploded. And without hesitation, I got up and just started running.

I grabbed my backpack and had my camera in my hand and my dogs. and I just ran as fast as it could as far as I could away from it. For most of us, seeing a glacier up close is a rare, maybe once-in-a-lifetime experience. But for professional mountain guides, this terrain is their workplace. They see the changes that we've been talking about firsthand. Mike Adolf is technical director of the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides. Tim Ritchie is Director of Operations for Yamnuyska Mountain Adventures, and they both join us now. Good morning to you both.

Good morning. How's it going? Really well, thanks. Tim. For somebody, as I say, who has never set foot on a glacier, just describe what it's like. When you are there, what is that landscape like? Yeah, I mean, stepping foot on a glacier is a magical experience. It is a place that everybody should get a chance to go and visit and to see.

And it's just, it's like being on another planet. It's an exciting place to be. It's a dynamic environment. And I feel very privileged to be able to spend as much time I do. as I do up on glaciers. What makes it feel like you're on another planet? It's just the landscape within itself. It's unlike anything you can experience other than actually putting yourself within that

environment. And it's just for me, every time I go, it feels like a true privilege and an honor to be there. Mike, does it feel like a magical experience when you are, I was going to say, at the office and your office is very different than where many people work? Yeah, I know. I think much like Tim, I truly, enjoy all the days that I get to spend out on the ice. And like Tim says, I mean, when you're out in the mountainscape and surrounded by nothing but ice, I mean, it's an experience like you can't

really put to words. You really just do need to be there. Do you remember the first time that you saw something like that? I mean, the way that you're describing it, I think, is it makes people who've never been to a place like that jealous. Mike, do you remember the first time that you had that experience? I do, actually. I think my first trip up onto the ice was up on the waft ice field, doing a ski traverse that is called the Yoho Traverse. And I can remember skiing out of GoHut and stepping onto the ice

and looking for kilometers in front of you as we headed towards the Yoho. It is nothing but snow and ice and mountain peaks. and it's just absolutely amazing. And so how has that changed? You've been in this industry, in the guiding industry for more than 25 years. So how has that environment changed? Well, the experience itself, I don't think, has changed, but what has changed is stuff that's happening in the background that maybe people don't see.

Mountains are hazardous places, as we know. I mean, avalanches, crevasses, ice falls, all those things are still there. But as the ice is retreating, a lot of those hazards are being amplified. So they're more prominent. And it's become a real concern for folks that are out there traveling and wanting to do so safely. One of the things that we have seen is the fact that temperatures in some of those areas are now fairly unpredictable, that you can have wild swings in temperatures that you might not have expected. What does that mean for the environment that you're describing, Mike?

Well, nothing in the mountains really likes rapid change. And so when you're experiencing these significant temperature fluctuations, it can work to destabilize the snowpack. It has freeze-thaw effects within the rock that's there. And it's just generally not a great thing. And you've seen those extreme changes in temperature in the work that you're doing? I think, you know, there's definitely days out there that stand out where maybe, you know, we've gone from a minus 20 spell to all of a sudden plus five. And I think the actual immediate impacts of that temperature change or maybe not visible, but it's the cumulative changes or the cumulative swings in those temperature that have the impact.

You can imagine taking, you know, thinking about heaving frost in the wintertime and having that occur in the mountains, you know, four or five or six times over the course of the winter, it's just not good, you know, when things thaw and then freeze again. Tim, what have you seen? Does what Mike is describing sound familiar to you? Yeah, it definitely sounds very familiar to me. You know, I mean, a key example is right now, you know, we're going to hit, I think, plus 13 degrees Celsius in Camor, Alberta in January. So it just seems like there's no real consistency to temperatures anymore. And we live in these peaks and valleys of very dramatic temperature swings that have a real impact on the frost that Mike is talking about and what happens out on the glaciers.

And, you know, I think for us as guides, I think adaptability is probably the key word there. And, you know, having very open and honest conversations around. how things are changing and the effects that it's having on the business that we're trying to do when we're operating in the mountains. Do you see a physical change? I mean, Mike talked a little bit about some of the things that are happening behind the scenes, but do you actually see changes in what the glacier looks like over time? Yeah, I mean, absolutely. You know, I haven't been doing this for, you know, 40 years, but, you know, in the little time that I have been doing it, when I think back to when I first started working as a guide, you know, we would try. We would, we would

travel common roots to get to certain peaks or certain objectives. And now it feels like the commonality of traveling on certain routes to get to objectives, every season we're having to adapt and change how we travel to get to certain things. Because in a lot of spots, the glaciers are just even gone where we would walk on ice. We're now walking on loose rock and gravel. So yeah, definitely seen dramatic. changes year over year, and it feels like it's become more predominant over the last decade. So those roots that you would know really well have just vanished over time?

Yeah, just essentially vanished over time. I mean, we still have an ability to get to these places. We're just, you know, reinventing the wheel almost every, every season, whether it's in the ski season or whether it's in the alpine climbing season in the summer months. So what does that mean in terms of the dangers that you face? I said in the introduction that, you know, the ice pulls back and and loose rock gets exposed, and you just talked about that. This is dangerous work at the best of times. What does that mean when the terrain actually changes? Yeah, you know, I think when the terrain itself is changing, I think for us it's just respecting the terrain and respecting what's happening to these routes.

And like I said earlier, you know, I think one thing we do really well as guides is we have an ability to adapt And adapting can mean, you know, walking further around to get to a certain objective, going up a different way. And then some days just avoiding that objective altogether and going to a plan B, plan C. And these days all the way down to sometimes a plan D or a plan E. But you heard what happened with the landslide and the bogle's here where Ellie Jackson described it as like a multi-story building coming down. When you hear that, I mean, what goes through your mind? Yeah, I mean, what goes through my mind is that, you know, things are changing and things are changing sometimes faster than we can anticipate. And, you know, places like that, yeah, it's hard. I mean, the mountains are a very dynamic environment and they're changing all the time. And, you know, it definitely makes our jobs a little bit more complicated. But, you know, I don't think it's stopping us necessarily from going into the time. And, you know, it definitely makes our jobs a little bit more complicated. but I don't think it's stopping us necessarily from going into the mountains.

I think we're just having very open and honest conversations with each other about these events, where these events are occurring and how we're going to potentially manage these things going forward. Mike, tell me about Mount Athabasca. This is in the Columbia Icefields, right, in Jasper? Yeah, correct. About, I don't know, 75 kilometers south of the Jasper area. The Athabasca Glacier itself, where the Columbia Icefields centers conducting tours, has melted back significantly.

And now it's to the point where the folks that are doing the ice walks on the glacier actually are having to navigate a lake at the toe of the glacier. And moving over to the left to Mount Athabasca itself, and I think out of all the mountains we have in the Rockies, maybe Mount Athabasca. Athabasca is kind of one of the more iconic ones. It's very striking. You can see it easily from the road. For a lot of people, it's the first mountain that they climb. And the glaciers that you use to access, some of what Tim was saying would be the traditional roots on Mount Athabasca, have melted back to the point where those roots are no longer viable.

And there's sections that we used to use for training programs and teaching people the basics. of, you know, glacier travel, crevasse rescue, that you just can't go to anymore. It's completely gone or the ice that's there is so precarious. It's like, you know, being in that Bull Falls area. You just don't know when that last little crack is going to happen and the ice is going to be gone. This ascent isn't for everyone. You need grit to climb this high this often. You've got to be an underdog that always over delivers.

You've got to be 6,500 hospital staff, 1,000 doctors all doing so much with so little. You've got to be Scarborough. Defined by our uphill battle and always striving towards new heights. And you can help us keep climbing. Donate at lovescarbro.cairbo.ca. This message comes from Viking, committed to exploring the world in comfort. Journey through the heart of Europe on a Viking longship with thoughtful service. destination-focused dining and cultural enrichment, on board and on shore. With a variety of voyages and sailing dates to choose from, now is the time to explore Europe's waterways.

Learn more at viking.com. Have you been in one of those areas, not as dramatic perhaps as Beau Falls, but where there has been a sudden change and whether parts of the glacier have given away or there have been a rock slide or something, something like that. Have you been in a situation like that, Mike? From a distance, I mean, I've seen some fairly significant glacier collapses or what we call an ice fall or surac collapse. And I have been, you know, with what might have been within hours of a major rock slide, you kind of are through an area and, you know, looking around. I mean, as guides, we're always kind of trying to keep in mind our, surroundings, what we're seeing, what's changing.

And, you know, we might pass underneath an area in the morning. And then on the return trip home, you notice that there's been a huge rock slide in that very area that you were traveling in just the morning before. And I think that really kind of speaks to the uncertainty that we're facing out there. As we're seeing the increased impacts of global warming and temperature rise, glaciers receding. that's all coming with more uncertainty. And it's a real challenge for us to kind of reconcile that. And oftentimes it might mean that we just don't go.

You just don't go. I mean, the question I was going to ask you, it doesn't make you feel differently about going out in the first place. What do you mean you say you just won't go? Well, if the uncertainty of the risks that you might be facing is to the point where you feel that there's some real peril that you might be subject to, the best decision is to just stay home or go and do.

something in a different area where those risks and hazards aren't present. That's got to be, there's got to be a reaction to that. I mean, this is, as I said, dangerous work at the best of times, but you love doing it. If you can't do it because the terrain has shifted because of a changing climate, you have to have a response to that, right? Yeah, and you know, I think one of the responses is the seasonality of some of the roots has changed. And so, you know, if we go back to the Mount Athabasca example, I mean, that used to be an area where you could visit and, you know, tackle the summit or try to get up on the summit throughout the summer.

And now the kind of common travel window for some of the classic roots on Mount Athabasca is the late spring and early summer when things are still frozen and there's good snow coverage. So that's kind of one way of dealing with it. I think the other thing that's really important for all the guides out there and for folks considering going into the mountains is to have really good communication about the changes that are happening, some of the risks that people are facing, and make sure that everybody is comfortable with those risks. And also speaking to the uncertainty that might be present. And there's always there's always tomorrow or there's always another route. And I think that's the most important thing. It doesn't have to be a we must go here now. Tim, do you ever, I mean, Mike mentioned folks going into the mountains.

Do you ever run into people who might be hiking, and they're just out there recreationally, but they don't understand the dangers or to your, both of your points, how the terrain that they're on has changed over time? Yeah, I think for sure we run into those people as guides quite often, actually. and, you know, as guides where we consider ourselves stewards of the mountains and, you know, feel like it is our responsibility to educate when we see somebody who might be put in themselves at risk. And we try to have open and honest conversations with people around, you know, why we might be doing something and they might be doing something else or, you know, why we have ropes on on a glacier and, you know, a recreational group might not have. ropes on a glacier and, you know, our familiarity with these areas, I mean, you know, our business here, Yamniska Mountain Adventures, you know, we spend, you know, numerous days up on Mount Athabaska, up on the Columbia ice fields, up on the WAPTA ice fields. So, you know,

we are familiar with this terrain. So, you know, we do do our best to educate the public as to what's going on out there. And we definitely see, you know, people doing things out there that, you know, we might not do in a guiding context. Do you worry about the sustainability of your business? You know, I think, you know, to go back to what Mike's talking about, I think one thing that we do really well, and I keep using the word adapting, but I feel like as a business, you know, we are adapting and we are having open and honest, transparent conversations with our clients when they are booking certain objectives later

in the season when we don't think that it's going to be possible. So, you know, for us, I think that alpine climbing season is a good example when we would typically be operating, you know, July, August, and even into September, these days we're pushing a lot of these objectives into call it even like late May, June, and July. And, you know, if somebody's calling to book a snow and ice objective into the months of August, you know, we'll have a conversation with them and let them know that we'll always do our best to go with plan A. but we might need to pivot to an objective where we're not exposed to the hazards of saracs and ice falls and crevasses and everything else. And we can always go and do some rock climbing. I guess I just wonder whether if the season continues to get shorter, if the ice continues to melt and the glaciers continue to shrink,

whether that window will get smaller and smaller and smaller. And the viability of a business like yours would be truly threatened. Yeah, you know, it is front and center for sure. It's something that is always on our minds. And, you know, the future of alpinism and operating on these glaciers is definitely at risk, not just for a business, but for anybody wanting to recreate. The loss is that, you know, we see here is, it's quite dramatic. And for people who are questioning it, you know, come and visit the Athabasca and, you know,

look at the signage and look where the glacier was, you know, 50, 60, 60, years ago compared to where it is now. And, you know, even like five years ago, we would walk down the road and step right onto the glacier. Now there's a lake there that's almost prohibiting us from accessing that glacier. And so the wheel's already being reinvented numerous times throughout a given season. Mike, what would you say to people about why something like this matters? For those who aren't going to go into the mountains, most people live far away from the mountains. And they intellectually appreciate them, but they may. may not have the visceral connection that you two both have.

What would you say to them about why what you are seeing matters to them? Well, the change in the mountain landscape, the melting of the ice, these are kind of the telltale signs that eventually there's going to be a significant impact. Climate change, global warming is real. And we're able to kind of watch this firsthand. We're seeing these changes happening year after year. We're seeing it accelerating. It's happening.

Climate change is real. We need to do what we can to kind of slow the process. We need to take an interest in our planet's health and try to do our best to slow down the clock. We won't be able to reset it, but we do need to slow things down. Tim, is taking people just finally, is taking people out to where you work, is that a way to help convince people to do what they can to slow down the clock that if they see this firsthand, not just the change, but also the beauty of what you've described, that that might motivate them to do something? Yeah, I mean, I think so for sure.

You know, one thing we do as guides is we educate and we're very passionate about the places that we're privileged to take people. and so when you tie into a rope with the guide, it's not just about climbing and getting the summit. It's also an educational piece in there as well. And I know for most of us who out and recreate and guide in these places, you know, we are speaking about this stuff and we are educating the public. And we are taken aback at times too as to the change. And I think for the people that we take into the mountains,

they can look at our faces and they can see our reaction and our passion when we're talking about this and educating them as to the changes that we're facing not just on an annual basis, but sometimes weekly and daily. You're both really lucky to be able to do this work where you do it. I think a lot of people who are listening, myself included, are jealous that you get to be there on a daily basis. And I appreciate you telling us about what you've seen and how that landscape has changed. Thank you both for being here. Thank you. Thanks for having us.

Yeah, thanks a lot. Mike Adolf is technical director of the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides. Tim Ritchie is Director of Operations for Yamnuska Mountain Adventures. You've been listening to the current podcast. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you soon. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca slash podcasts.