About Chris Hopper

Founder of I AM Adventures

Hi there ,

I’m Chris Hopper, and I’m genuinely grateful your eyes have landed here.

I didn’t set out to build a program.
I set out to understand what helps young people come alive.

Like many of us, my story begins in childhood. Mine was filled with music, sports, camping trips, starry nights, skiing, gymnastics, and loving parents who supported my interests. It was also a time of pressure, confusion, and learning to navigate authority, expectations, and subtle messages about who I “should” become.

Even in a blessed childhood, I sensed something was off.

I noticed two kinds of adults in my world. Some led with rules, judgment, and pressure. Others led with presence, joy, and inspiration. Around the second kind, I felt seen. I felt safe. I felt like I mattered.

I remember thinking: I want to be that kind of adult someday.

Years later, as a young adult, I was following the expected path and quietly fell into depression. For the first time, I felt how disconnected I had become from my own joy and inner guidance. That season forced me to ask harder questions:

What actually brings me joy? What gives me purpose and life meaning?
Why are so many people pushing through lives that don’t inspire them?
What happens to that spark we all have as children?

Around that time, I began coaching gymnastics, teaching preschool, mentoring, and teaching piano. Working with kids clarified everything.

Children weren’t the problem.
They were alive.

Curious. Creative. Expressive. Sensitive. Bold.

And I could see how quickly that aliveness dimmed when met with pressure, comparison, or rules without explanation. I could see their disappointment when playfulness was misunderstood. I could see how deeply young people long to be trusted, challenged, and genuinely seen.

That became the thread of my life’s work.

Movement, Nature, and Initiation

For over 18 years, I’ve worked with children and teens in many capacities — gymnastics and parkour coach, circus skills instructor, preschool teacher, PE assistant, piano teacher, one-on-one mentor, wilderness guide, and rites of passage facilitator.

Movement has always been central in my life: gymnastics, dance, parkour, climbing, mountaineering, skiing, backpacking, surfing, solo wilderness journeys. As a performer with The AscenDance Project, I even danced on vertical climbing walls — a literal practice of embodied courage.

Through it all, I’ve learned this:

Confidence is embodied.
Resilience is embodied.
Self-trust is embodied.

Understanding is just the beginning, but embodiment happens through practice, challenge, and lived experience.

When young people are given real challenges — not performative pressure, but meaningful risk within a safe container — something ancient wakes up inside them.

My time as Lead Mentor at The Kiva Center, training with Twin Eagles Wilderness School, and serving as Program Manager for Rocky Mountain Rites deepened my understanding of nature-based mentoring and adolescent initiation. I also trained in men’s leadership and conscious community work, learning how to hold grounded, accountable spaces for growth.

Nature doesn’t force growth.
It invites it. It nourishes it. It allows it.

And young people don’t need more pressure.

They need presence.
They need meaningful challenge.
They need trust.
They need belonging without comparison.
They need initiation — not just expectation.

Why I Created I AM Adventures

Over time, I stopped trying to argue with what felt broken in our culture.

Criticizing the system wasn’t building anything better.

So I began creating the kind of space I wish my younger self had experienced — and the kind of space I see so many families longing for.

I AM Adventures is not therapy.
It is not school.
It is not behavior management.

It is a relational, nature-based mentoring ecosystem where young people reconnect with:

  • Their bodies

  • Their emotions

  • Their courage

  • Their uniqueness

  • Their community

  • The natural world

Here, guidance means presence and attunement — not control.
Challenge is about discovering capacity, not earning approval.
Belonging is unconditional.

I don’t believe children need to be fixed.

I believe they need space to discover who they are.

I believe they need to be initiated — into self-trust, responsibility, courage with compassion, and conscious interdependence.

The Bigger Vision

I deeply believe that supporting young people in developing emotional maturity, embodied confidence, and genuine belonging is one of the most powerful ways we can shape a healthier future.

This work isn’t about building impressive résumés.

It’s about helping young humans remember who they are — and building communities that allow them to become who they’re meant to be.

I live and guide along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in Boulder County, Colorado — a landscape that continually reminds me of both humility and possibility.

If this resonates with you, I’d love to explore whether I AM Adventures feels like the right place for your family.