East of Revelstoke are the Selkirk Mountains and Glacier National Park, penetrated by Rogers Pass used by the Trans-Canada Highway and the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Revelstoke was founded in the 1880s when the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) was built through the area; mining was an important early industry.

[3] The construction of the Trans-Canada Highway in 1962 further eased access to the region, and since then, tourism has been an important feature of the local economy, with skiing having emerged as the most prominent attraction.

[4] Revelstoke's economy has traditionally been tied to the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), and it still maintains a strong connection to that industry.

A strong movement pushed to expand the entire mountain into a single resort, and construction started in the early 2000s.

Revelstoke Mountain Resort opened in the winter of 2007/8 and boasts North America's greatest vertical at 1,713 metres (5,620 ft).

The former local BCJHL team, the Revelstoke Bruins, had a number of future NHLers on its roster in the 1970s and 1980s, including Bruce Holloway, Ron Flockhart, and Rudy Poeschek.

Revelstoke became an international center for ski jumping, attracting the world elite for the annual tournament.

In 2010, Revelstoke became part of a select group of ski resorts to feature the Freeskiing World Tour.

Starting in 2015, Revelstoke has hosted the Red Bull Cold Rush, fusing the disciplines of backcountry slopestyle, big mountain, cliffs, and alpine ski touring.

The world's premier skiers are invited to battle it out for a chunk of the $36,000 prize purse, which is awarded in a peer-judged format to the most versatile, well-rounded athletes.

The league's premier team, the Derailers, held its debut bouts in the summer of 2012 and won both home games.

[15] The 1937 British movie The Great Barrier, starring Lilli Palmer, depicted the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway and featured location shooting from Revelstoke.

Some scenes in the 1999 action thriller Double Jeopardy, starring Ashley Judd and Tommy Lee Jones, were filmed in Revelstoke, notably the historic courthouse.

In 2017, the Hallmark Channel original movie Frozen in Love, starring Rachael Leigh Cook and Niall Matter, was filmed in the area.