Founded 2016

How it started

Started with bikes.
Grew into so much more.

Adventuring Into Life was founded in 2016 by Andrea, who got her first taste of mountain bike coaching while teaching basic skills to school groups in Grande Prairie, Alberta. She was hooked from the start — not just on biking, but on what happened to people when they pushed themselves outside their comfort zone.

Not screens, not coddling, not the idea that you need to be ready before you begin.

What started as a mission to get more women and girls onto bikes has grown into something much larger: year-round youth camps, school programs, women's retreats across BC, and international adventures. We're based in Kamloops — one of the best mountain biking cities in the world — and we serve families and women across the province and beyond.

Through all of it, the core hasn't changed. We build programs where the challenge is the point, the community is the product, and the outdoors is the classroom.

Our mission

We started with bikes and a simple observation: when women and girls do something hard outside, something changes in them that follows them home.

Not just confidence on the trail. Confidence in who they are. That's what AIL is built around. Not screens, not coddling, not the idea that you need to be ready before you begin. We build programs where the challenge is the point, the community is the product, and the outdoors is the classroom.

From three-year-olds on balance bikes to women riding through Costa Rica — we meet people where they are. And we take them further than they expected.

What we offer

Programs for every
stage of the adventure.

Every program is built around the same idea: get outside, do something hard, discover you're more capable than you thought.

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Youth Bike Camps

Afterschool biking programs and summer bike camps for kids ages 5–13 in Kamloops. Skills-focused, confidence-building, genuinely fun.

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Multi-Sport Summer Camps

Biking, bushcraft, survival skills, hiking, and team challenges. Full-day programs that keep kids moving, exploring, and away from screens all summer.

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Bushcraft & Outdoor Skills

Fire starting, navigation, shelter building, wild plant ID, and more. Practical skills that build independence and a deep connection to the natural world.

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Girls Adventure Camps

Girls-only adventure camps in Kamloops, Vernon, and Kelowna — female instructors, safe spaces, and the kind of confidence that follows kids home long after camp ends.

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Women's MTB Retreats

Our annual Valemount retreat brings women together for three days of coached riding, real community, and an experience that changes how people see themselves on a bike.

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International Adventures

Our Costa Rica women's retreat takes it all the way. Seven days of jungle hikes, kayaking, cultural experiences, and a level of adventure that reminds you what you're truly capable of.

What we believe

The values that
shape everything we do.

The challenge is the point. The community is the product. The outdoors is the classroom. Here's what that actually means in practice.

Confidence through adventure

The moment someone does something they didn't think they could do — that's the whole point. We design every program around creating those moments, because confidence built outside follows people everywhere.

Connection to nature

Time outside isn't a bonus — it's the thing. We believe being in nature makes people calmer, braver, and more creative. Getting kids and adults off screens and into the wild is one of the most important things we can do.

Everyone belongs here

Outdoor spaces can feel intimidating if you didn't grow up in them. We work hard to make sure our programs feel genuinely welcoming — regardless of ability, background, age, or how long it's been since you were last on a bike.

Community over everything

Some of the best things that happen at our programs happen between participants, not in the curriculum. We build programs that create real friendships — the kind where strangers show up and regulars come back year after year.

Skills that last

Whether it's cornering technique, fire starting, or navigating a new trail — practical skills create lasting confidence. What someone learns in a week with us can change how they feel about themselves for years.

The people behind it

Meet our team.

Our programs are only as good as the people running them. Every AIL coach is certified, passionate, and genuinely invested in the people they're working with. Here's who you'll actually meet.

Founder & Director

Andrea

GSMBC Certified · Level 2 Coach

Andrea grew up moving around BC — never quite settled, always curious. By her late teens she'd moved to Alberta, and it was there, teaching mountain bike skills to school groups in Grande Prairie, that she stumbled onto what she was actually meant to do. A former high-level athlete, she'd spent years in sport and knew what good coaching looked like. Watching someone conquer a trail they were terrified of five minutes earlier? That was the thing.

Coaching and program directing are the only jobs she's really had. Add a business degree, and founding AIL in 2016 was less of a leap and more of an inevitability. Nine years later it runs year-round programs from Kamloops to the Okanagan to Costa Rica, and that original mission — get more women and girls outside doing things they didn't think they could do — still drives every decision she makes.

She recently became a mom, which has only deepened her belief in what time outside does for people at every age. When she's not running programs you'll find her on the trails with her dog and her daughter, or deep in her garden learning which native plants are edible. She is, in every sense, someone who adventures into life.

Kamloops Lead Coach

Stacey

GSMBC Certified · Level 2 Coach

Stacey is Kamloops through and through — born and raised here, and proud of it. She grew up exploring the bush with her dad, the kind of kid who was more comfortable in the trees than in a classroom. (She'll tell you she could absolutely win the show Alone. She's probably not wrong.)

She found Adventuring Into Life the same way a lot of people do — she showed up as a participant, not entirely sure what to expect, and left completely transformed. She fell in love with the community and what it was building, and eventually she couldn't imagine not being part of it from the coaching side.

As a mom herself, Stacey brings something to programs that families feel immediately. She knows what it looks like when a kid is frozen at the top of a hill, and she knows the exact expression on their face when they finally go for it. She's warm, endlessly patient, and the kind of coach kids run toward. If you're in Kamloops, there's a good chance Stacey is the reason AIL feels like home.

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Our coaching team

Beyond Andrea and Stacey, AIL programs are supported by a team of certified instructors and trained coaches who share the same standards and values. All of our lead mountain bike coaches hold GSMBC Level 2 certification. Every coach on our team goes through AIL's own training program to ensure consistent, high-quality delivery across all programs. When you register with us, you can expect the same standard no matter which coach you ride with.

We get peopleoutside and keepthem coming back.

Started with bikes.Grew into so much more.

Programs for everystage of the adventure.