Working at the Columbia Icefield
 Working at "The Ice"
The Columbia Icefield is a special place. For many visitors to Canada's Rocky Mountain National Parks, a trip to the Icefield is long remembered as a highlight of their holidays. Since we have a unique opportunity to show visitors from around the globe our spectacular landscape and to interpret the natural and human history of the area, our guests must be provided with the utmost in friendly and professional service.
It is for this reason that Brewster recruits as high a caliber of staff as possible and has policies in place to ensure that we are able to serve our international clientele in a highly professional manner. All staff members are issued uniforms and given appearance guidelines in order to ensure a consistent and professional image to the public.
The Icefield is a seasonal operation, running seven days a week from April 1st to October 31st of this year. Normal operating hours during our peak months are from 9:00am to 6:00pm. The Glacier Experience attracts over half a million guests during a normal season.
The Icefield also operates a 32 room Chalet style hotel from May 1st to September 30th of every year. The Chalet is staffed 24 hours a day to serve the needs of our guests.
Bonus incentive plans are provided for staff members. Upon successful completion of his or her contract, each employee is eligible for a performance bonus, based entirely on his or her individual performance throughout the season. The performance bonus is up to a maximum of $1.00 per hour for every regular hour worked during the season. This can be a tidy sum for traveling, school, or getting winter recreation equipment!
In many cases, work schedules follow a six days on, two days off pattern so that employees' weekly days off are rotated.
Life at "The Ice"
The Columbia Icefield Centre and staff camp are at an elevation of 2,000m (6,500ft) above sea level and are located right next to the largest body of ice south of the artic circle. Both of these factors have an enormous impact on our local weather and it's normal to get snow at least one day of every month of the year, so pack accordingly! Throughout most of the summer, the weather is quite nice with sunny, warm days and cool nights.
The nearest town to the Icefield is Jasper at 108 km to the north, so Brewster provides all staff with accommodations in our "Ice Palace".
Staff may take the "Happy Bus" which goes to Jasper once a week for an evening on the town. For many people this is a chance to get out of camp and socialize with others, or it can just be that you want a chance to get some shopping done. Events such as costume parties, Christmas in July, and the regular "isn't it time we have another event" party are also sponsored and organized by the staff for everyone's enjoyment and entertainment.
A variety of activities are available throughout the season. Backcountry skiing and snowboarding, ice and rock climbing, hiking, running, canoeing, biking, and sometimes just relaxing on the deck are all activities that our staff enjoy every year.
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