Sol y Luna

Three Peaks Victory

Sol y Luna’s very own Thomas Schilter has become the first person to summit Arequipa’s three main volcanic peaks in one epic, non-stop 30 hour expedition.

At the age of just 22, Thomas has an immensely pioneering spirit and some extraordinary achievements under his belt. He is an alpinist, paragliding pilot, unicyclist and Ambassador for The North Face Peru.

Thomas has represented Peru in Paragliding World Cups and completed ground-breaking paragliding flights from some of Peru’s highest peaks, including the summit of Ausangate at 6,384 meters and Yayamari at 6,000 meters. In Brazil’s Sertão region, he covered a distance of 433 km in 10 hours.

On foot, he recently completed the 2025 edition of the Marathon des Sables Peru, a 100km race through the Ica desert – just the latest in a reel of endurance achievements he has clocked up in recent years.

A Passion for the Andes

Son of Sol y Luna founders Franz and Petit, Thomas was born in Cusco and had a unique childhood growing up living at the hotel and being exposed to nature and adventure sports. He exhibited an early insatiable appetite for exploring the Andes, taking up mountain biking, rock climbing and mountaineering from a young age.

In 2014, at the age of just 11, while many of his peers were parked in front of screens playing video games, Thomas climbed the peak of Misti Volcano in Arequipa with his father.

“Since then, I haven’t stopped practising adventure sports” he explains, looking back on his upbringing in Peru’s Sacred Valley.

In 2019, at the age of 16, Thomas and his climbing companion Luis Crispin were the first Peruvians to scale Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes, the same peak made famous by Joe Simpson’s account of his near-fatal descent of this daunting mountain in Touching the Void.

“Nature changed my life” Thomas reflects, “and discovering it through adventure is indescribable. I love running up to the snowy peaks and then paragliding down to enjoy the view“.

Laying Foundations

Thomas’s education was unusual – he was a pupil at the Sol y Luna School for 11 years, a school built largely to support underprivileged children in the region.

The school is part of the wider Sol y Luna Foundation, which also contains an orphanage, special needs centre and a program for tertiary education, providing a loving environment and high quality education and pastoral care for children in the region.

Founded by his parents when thy moved to the Sacred Valley over 25 years ago, Thomas is passionate about the work of the Foundation, often using his challenges as a means of raising money. In August 2024 he completed the Mont Blanc Ultra Trail Marathon, clocking up 145 km over 30 hours across the French Alps to raise funds.

At the age of 18, Thomas discovered one of his true passions: paragliding. It was in his blood – his father Franz was a pioneer of the sport in Peru and competed internationally. From the moment he completed his first flight, Thomas dreamed of taking off from the 6,000-metre summits near his home and soaring across countries around the world.

“My father is the one who introduced me to the art of flying, from a quaint hillock near our home in Peru” he remembers.

“I recall that during my first flight” he goes on, “the sensation was overwhelmingly profound. I experienced neither fear nor a sense of peril; instead, there was a unique and indescribable feeling that enveloped me.

“It was this exhilarating experience that ultimately led me to fall deeply in love with this sport“.

Trilogy of Volcanoes

Thomas’ volcano expedition involved summiting the three major peaks that tower above the city of Arequipa in Southern Peru, Chachani, Misti and Pichu pichu.

All over 5,000 metres above sea level, the largest, Chachani, is 6070 metres high, a vast mass of volcanic rock that would be an imposing climb alone, let alone as a trilogy.

Thomas aimed to complete the three ascents in about 30 hours, all of which had to be completed under his own steam – no vehicles allowed, including travelling between the volcanoes themselves.

During the challenge, he covered over 90km on foot – the equivalent of two marathons back to back – all at heights between 3700 and 6070 metres and with temperatures dropping to as low as -12°c, with no sleep and barely any rest-time.

He was supported by three teams – one assigned to each volcano – to provide food, water, energy bars and changes of clothes at various stops along the route. The support effort was led by Franz, Thomas’ father, who was waiting at the bottom of each volcano to offer support and encouragement along with much needed sustenance. Tragically, Franz was killed in a paragliding accident in Colombia only weeks after Thomas’ expedition, adding a poignant note to Thomas’ achievement.

“As always in my life, my father, Franz, was a key player” Thomas explains. “He waited for me at various strategic points and volcano bases with food, drink, and, above all, words of encouragement. At first, they didn’t resonate as much as they did at the end, when my body was tired, my eyes were sore, and I felt like I couldn’t go on. He encouraged me“.

Despite unbelievable physical and mental hardship, Thomas completed the challenge in 30 hours and 11 minutes, having ascended over 5,500 metres in that time, becoming the first person ever to climb all three volcanoes in one combined expedition.

Thomas’s journey was filmed by Peruvian filmographers Víctor Vílchez (@ve_doble) and Alex Minaya (@alexminayae), which led to the creation of a documentary tracking the expedition called Trilogia de los Volcanes.

The film chronicles Thomas’ preparation for the expedition and follows him on the route itself, whilst paying tribute to his father who motivated and inspired him, introduced him to the magic of the mountains and supported him every step of the way.

The film had its international premier at the Royal Geographical Society in London in November 2025, attended by several hundred viewers.