Chris Schuhmann is an experienced educator and outdoor program manager based in Boulder, Colorado. He specializes in creating meaningful connections through adventure facilitation that fosters competency, resilience, autonomy, fun, and trust. He founded AdventureCRAFT in 2024, an experiential edcation initiative celebrating the tenets of adventure psychology to encourage personal empowerment, courage, and growth. 

 

Chris graduated Summa Cumme Laude from the University of Kentucky with two degrees, in English Literature and French Language, with Honors. Realizing his passion for adventure and novel experiences while studying in France, he then pursued a Master’s degree in French literature at the University of Colorado at Boulder.  Precisely as he had hoped, moving to Colorado changed the course of Chris's life in so many wonderful ways. This opportunity allowed him to explore mountaineering in the Rocky Mountains, teach French courses at the university level, and even spend a year in the Loire Valley giving English instruction at the local university in Tours, France. He began working as a Middle School French teacher at Dawson School in 2009.

 

Nothing lights him up like teaching. Especially adventure!

 

Now happily installed in the Rocky Mountains for over nearly 20 years, Chris has accrued a wealth of experiential education training and experience in backcountry expeditions, international travel, challenge course and zipline technical skills, rock climbing, and group facilitation - with over 10,000 hours of adventure facilitation experience.  He has a Level 2 certification for Challenge Course Facilitation and Technical Skills from the Association for Challenge Course Technology, a Single Pitch Rock Instructor Certificate from the American Mountain Guides Association, Level 3 training from UberAdventures in technical canyoneering, and is a NOLS certified Wilderness First Responder. He has volunteered as an instructor for the Colorado Mountain Club since 2010, instructing High Altitude and Glacier Travel courses, Advanced Crevasse Rescue, and Ice Climbing. Having retired his role as French teacher in 2022, Chris currently works as a  Dawson School in Lafayette, Colorado as a full-time Challenge Course Manager and Adventure Facilitator, where he instructs an Adventure curriculum that teaches students to pursue responsible risk taking and focuses on community development.

 

Each summer for 10 years Chris traveled to a different country in order to introduce high school students to adventure and international travel.  He has guided student trips for Rustic Pathways, Global Leadership Adventures, Putney Student Travel, and as an American guide for French tourists in the United States. He has guided students in Canada, Peru, Tanzania, Thailand, Laos, the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Costa Rica, and of course, France. Chris is fluent in French and proficient in Spanish. He is also passionate about travel photography, you can view his work at www.VoyagerPhotos.com. He has a passion for high altitude mountaineering and has made two summits above 19,000 ft in Peru and Tanzania, and above 20,000 ft in Ecuador and Alaska. 

​