Wapta Icefield

A major icefield on the Continental Divide straddling Banff National Park and Yoho National Park. The Wapta Icefield feeds the Bow Glacier (outlet to Bow Lake and the Bow River) and the Kicking Horse River to the west.

The name “Wapta” derives from the Stoney Nakoda word for “river”; the Wapta ski run at Lake Louise references this heritage. Interconnected with the Waputik Icefield to the south, the Wapta forms part of the hydrological headwaters of the Bow River system. Accessible via trails from Bow Lake along the Icefields Parkway (34 km north of Lake Louise). Peyto Lake, fed by Wapta meltwater, sits at Bow Pass just north of Bow Lake.