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Max Wilson

@maxwell_wilson

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Ridgelines to Remember: 🇵🇪

At around 16,000 ft just off Paso Yaucha, stage 7 of the Cordillera Huayhuash circumnavigation, there is this trail from which the whole range opens up before you. We were deeply fortunate to have a clear day and could see the roof of Peru 100 miles away, Huascarán (glaciated peak on horizon, center), while Andean Condors soared above. The farmers need to carefully watch their calves, because when carrion is scarce, the condors with their 10 ft wingspans are known to snatch up small animals. I told Audra it was best not to look too fatigued while on the ridge 😂 lest we tempt fate. Second photo is what you see when you hop off the airplane North of Huaraz: Huascarán towering above you at 22,205 ft. Video is of the condors riding thermals - they rarely flap their wings once aloft. by @maxwell_wilson

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3 months ago

Cordillera Huayhuash: Stage 4 🇵🇪
The crux of the route, when it comes to altitude. We camped the night prior at about 14,700 ft, higher than any place in the lower US, to make it here, paso Santa Rosa, the following morning at 16,600 ft/5,150 m (it was astonishing to be trekking well above the roof of Europe, Mont Blanc, without requiring crampons/ice axe), with views of Laguna Jurau and the spine of the Huayhuash range stretched out before us. The scale is really impossible to capture. From the valley floor near the alpine lake, one could stack the Empire State Building nearly 6 times over to reach the height of the highest peak, Yerupajá. Video at the end shows Audie and our guide Margarita and her husband, Sadan, taking a breather, with the pass to ourselves, and the side we ascended (no audio because the wind was RIPPING). by @maxwell_wilson

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3 months ago

Cordillera Huayhuash: Stage 7 🇵🇪

Thanks to my dad for introducing me to the term Paternoster lake, which are a series of hanging lakes that form as a glacier recedes (They are named after rosary beads—Latin for “Our Father”—because the chain of lakes resembles a beaded necklace, very on the nose for how Catholic Peru is post-Pizarro conquest) and are visible on the left. Our campsite was at the base of Laguna Jauacocha, with Soterracocha visible within the margins of the 500ft lateral moraines, and another new unnamed lake just beneath the glacier that is not visible here. If you look middle left in photo 4, you can appreciate how small the colorful 25’x25’ camp tents look in the foreground, and the stone enclosures for mules and donkeys called canchas. Last video is the view of Soterracocha from the moraine to give a taste of how enormous the lake is once on top of it and to provide contrasting scale in a place that is resistant to doing so in photos. by @maxwell_wilson

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4 months ago

Cordillera Huayhuash: Stage 7 🇵🇪
What we might call alpenglow, the Italians may describe as Enrosadira. Here in Peru, in Quechua, they say “puca yican jirca;” or roughly, “mountains getting red.” They say that only in June does the evening sun light up the Huayhuash like this. On right is Yerupajá, the second highest peak in the country at 6,635 meters, which is rarely climbed because of the overhanging snow fluting, seracs, and avy risk—which seems appropriate, that it’s simply there for us to gaze up towards. by @maxwell_wilson

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4 months ago

Cordillera Huayhuash - Stage 3 🇵🇪 For scale at bottom, Audra and our diminutive (in size, not spirit) guide, Margarita, making the descent off of paso trapecio at around 5,000m (16,400ft), with the mountain Cuyoc watching over us. 12 years ago that mountain face was completely glaciated, it now only features a dusting of snow. Not pictured: the 67 yo Argentine lad, Carlos, who decided to give a donkey driver his heavy pack to shlep over the pass for him, only to not make the pass the previous night, and almost died from exposure huddled behind a rock around 4900m. Was in shock and confused as we tried to coax/babysit him down to the next camp. Incidentally saw him two days later in huayllapa, still without money/gear. Wild times up in the alpine so far… by @maxwell_wilson

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4 months ago

Moose 🫎, marmots, and monster panoramic views. #tetonsporn

Paintbrush Peak Oct ‘25 by @maxwell_wilson

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9 months ago

Maletsunyane Falls - Lesotho 🇱🇸

The Basotho lads initially had me a touch worried when two of them started playfully wrestling after they loaded up the pack mule—professionalism is what one ideally looks for when you agree to a 670 ft waterfall abseil—but in the end the rope held fast and we had a good laugh on the hike out. I asked one of the guides what kind of music he prefers, expecting him to say famo (fah-MOO), the Lesotho traditional music which sort of sounds to my ears like a not quite right mix of hip hop and zydeco, and was surprised when he said: “definitely house music.” by @maxwell_wilson

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a year ago

First Big, Then Grand: A story about water, time, and a rafting journey through the Grand Canyon. by @maxwell_wilson

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a year ago

Autumn 🍂 | Pastoral Wisconsin by @maxwell_wilson

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2 years ago

Vajolet Towers | June ‘24 Dolomiti 🇮🇹

#paintyouradventure
(Cute girlfriend for scale) by @maxwell_wilson

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2 years ago

Tetons + Aspens 🫶 by @maxwell_wilson

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2 years ago

The Tetons | WY

1) Where old growth pines look like toothpicks above Cascade canyon, a vertical mile beneath the Grand
2-3) A joy filled day with Doug and Willi 🧀 up to Albright
4) Chip, a 2,600 lb sweetheart who eats 70lbs of hay/day and knows where to look when glamour shots are on the menu
5-6) Lake of the Crags with some off piste: “Max, I don’t think this is a good idea.” … “Max, this isn’t a good idea.” … “Max, that wasn’t a good idea.” 🤣 by @maxwell_wilson

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2 years ago