Benefits

Parks Canada, in their Icefields Parkway Action Plan, identified the need to re-design the Tangle Ridge Viewpoint to improve safety, reduce wildlife mortality and enhance viewing. The proposed Glacier Discovery Walk addresses these concerns by:

• Re-designing the entry and exit points to the viewing area improving blind corners and reducing the potential for vehicle collisions
• Reducing individual vehicle traffic at the site providing a safer visitor experience
• The project design enables wildlife to traverse the ridge below the viewing platform, keeping animals away from vehicle traffic
• Providing a state of the art viewing experience combined with detailed interpretive information about the geography, geology, glaciology, environment, Aboriginal history and social history of the area.

The Glacier Discovery Walk will achieve all of these benefits while utilizing existing infrastructure at the Glacier Interpretive Centre.

Innovative Design

Brewster has been working with visionary designers, architects and Parks Canada to ensure the new Discovery Walk will have minimal environmental and visual impacts to the land while still making it accessible for visitors from all walks of life, regardless of mobility challenges.

The materials and design techniques being used will help the Walk to blend in with the natural environment. The proximity of the Walk to the Discovery Centre leverages existing infrastructure, reducing the need for new facilities at the site.

Inclusive and Barrier-Free Experience: the Glacier Discovery Walk will be a fully accessible guided interpretive viewing experience. Persons of all ages and mobility challenges will be able to experience the Glacier Discovery Walk, one of the few opportunities for a barrier-free wilderness experience in the mountain national parks.

The Walk’s architectural design has been awarded the prestigious Future Projects Competition by the World Architecture Festival and has been described as "enhancing rather than shrinking from the epic landscape."