The Rocky Mountains were formed 175 million years ago, as the Pacific tectonic plate slowly moved under the North American plate. As this plate moved, it forced all the land mass together, causing this large amount of rock to move upward. As the years passed, the wind, water and glaciers carved out the beautiful formations and caused the mountains to slowly erode. Even today, examples of this can be seen in the Glacier National Park , and the cycle of erosion and growth continues.

The first visitors to Banff were the native people of Canada, with archaeological records from 11 000 BC, when the Crees, Kootenays and Plains Blackfoot were believed to have lived in the region of the bow valley, hunting and fishing in the vast natural region.