Born in Hemel Hempstead, Bankes moved to the southern alps of France with her family when she was four years old, and grew up in the mountains competing in different sports, skiing, snowboarding and sailing.

She started racing internationally in snowboarding for France when she was 15, representing them at the Olympics in Sochi and Pyoenchang, where she finished 7th.

In November 2018 she changed licences to compete for Great Britain, flying the Union Jack in Beijing in 2022. After a lot of hard work, in 2021 Charlotte became World Snowboard Cross Champion in Idrefjäll, Sweden and won the Crystal Globe in 2021-22 and 2022-23.

In 2023 after a a big disappointment in the individual event at the world championships, Charlotte showed all her strength to bounce back and, alongside teammate Huw Nightingale, claim an unexpected title in the team event in Bakuriani.

After a great start to the 2024-25 season with a silver at World Championships in St Moritz and coming in leading the World Cup standings with five wins she crashed at the last event in Mt St Anne and broke her collarbone which was a brutal end to the season. Following surgery and with rehabilitation underway, Charlotte is ready to bounce back and put all her focus into preparing for the MIlan/Cortina Olympics in February.