Things You Didn't Know About Revelstoke

In the early days of there being a town here, it was called Farwell. The town was built around the railway and Mr Farwell was the founder of the first settlement here. When Canadian Pacific Rail found they had a disagreement over the cost of doing business in Farwell, they started their own town right next to Farwell and named it after Lord Revelstoke. The part of town nearest the highway is still known as Farwell.

Not only is Revelstoke located in a rainforest, but it’s one of the rarest rainforests in the world! The inland temperate rainforest, and especially the old-growth forest around Revelstoke, is a rich ecosystem of cedar and hemlock trees and hosts a wide variety of animals and plant life. BC is the only place in the world to find this particular type of forest. The mountain caribou makes its home in this type of forest because of the deep snow in the winter and the forests around Revelstoke play a key part in their protection.

Ski jumping was a craze brought to Revelstoke by the Norwegians who settled here in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Five world records were set on the jump before it fell out of use in the 1970s, including a staggering 73m jump by Nels Nelsen in 1925 - when ski boots were made of leather, skis were one solid piece of wood, and the bindings held the skis on- whatever happened! Head to the Nels Nelsen historic site and lean into Nels Knickers to get an idea of just how big the jump here was!

On March 4th 1910, as workers were clearing avalanche debris from the railway lines in Rogers Pass, they were hit by a massive avalanche from the other side of the valley. The slide claimed the lives of 58 men, buried over 400 metres of track, and knocked a locomotive and plow upside down.

The avalanche was Canada’s deadliest and the tragedy was the start of the push to navigate Rogers Pass through a series of tunnels and snow sheds, making a safer route through the mountains. Leading to the world-class avalanche prevention system we have now, using explosives and infrastructure to ensure the roads are as safe as possible.

Revelstoke Dam is an imposing sight. And it has some impressive stats too! It’s one of the most powerful dams in BC, standing at a lofty 175m tall with a 155km2 surface area. Take a tour around the visitor centre in the summer to find out all about how the dam works and see the amazing view from the top.

From top to bottom, Revelstoke Mountain Resort has the most rideable meters in North America, with 1713m to tear down! Ride through alpine bowls to miles (literally) of groomed trails leading to the base – just get some squats in before you go!

The original ski hill on Mount Mackenzie, where RMR is now, chose the mountain for its vertical potential!

The area is home to the southernmost herds of woodland caribou in North America—known as mountain caribou. These animals are uniquely adapted to the region's deep snowpack, relying on old-growth forests and the nutrient-rich lichen found high up in the trees. Unlike other caribou, they avoid open landscapes, sticking to steep, forested mountain terrain, especially in winter when they dig down for lichen in the snow.

Historically, caribou thrived in the forests around Revelstoke, moving through the region’s valleys and mountains in small herds. However, their numbers have taken a serious hit over the last century due to habitat loss, logging, and increased human development in their range. The construction of roads, the railroad, and especially the Revelstoke and Mica dams in the mid-20th century disrupted caribou habitats and migration patterns. As predators like wolves and cougars gained easier access to these remote areas through human-made paths, predation on caribou also increased.

You might recognise us, we’re kind of famous. Revelstoke has become a movie set on numerous occasions- starting out with the 1936 movie “The Silent Barrier”.

Since then we’ve appeared on camera lots of other times including Double Jeopardy, The Amazing Race, Mountain Men, and two Hallmark movies, Frozen in Love and Marry Me at Christmas. Not to mention countless ski and snowboard movies, of course.