The Athabasca Glacier is part on the Icefields Parkway just inside Jasper NP. This enormous icy mass runs down toward the highway and is easily accessible on foot. Be very wary of doing this, however. An alternative involves taking the big-wheeled Snocoach onto the ice.
We walked up onto the glacier with an official guide, and we’d been advised to be suited with winter clothing and boots. There were plenty of other individuals wandering on to the lower reaches of the Athabasca without guides and simply dressed in t-shirts, jeans, and training shoes. A few months earlier a youngster had fallen through a crevice very close to the glacier toe, and, despite the efforts of rescuers, died before he could be recovered. There are lots of crevices which are very deep and very narrow--take care--fall into one of these and you may not get back.
The Athabasca Glacier has a very good visitor center. The usual gift shop, cafeteria, and restrooms, but with a pretty good exhibition to go with it.
A point worth noting is that while the Glacier ebbs and flows with the seasons, its toe is gradually receding, apparently through global warming. Whether this means the car park will need moving further from the road and closer to the glacier, allowing more pollutants into the air, is not clear!