It might be Banff’s smallest mountain at 1692m, but Tunnel Mountain is still one of the town’s most recognizable landmarks. The mountain’s distinctive rippled profile, which looms over the east side of town, was known to the Stoney people as tatanga (buffalo), as it resembles a sleeping buffalo when seen from the north and east.
From the north side of St Julien Rd, a short trail (4.3km) switchbacks up the mountainside to the summit, offering an airy view over Banff Town.
The mountain gets its modern name courtesy of the CPR surveyor Major AB Rogers who, while laying the groundwork for the arrival of the railway in Banff in 1882, devised a harebrained plan to blast a 275m-long tunnel through the base of the mountain to avoid the twists and turns of the Bow River. Incensed at the projected cost, Rogers’ superiors ordered him to find an alternative, and the railway was subsequently rerouted north of the mountain at a fraction of the original price.