Lead schoolboy expedition to Peru with scientific and mountaineering objectives
By David Comins, 2021
Fellow’s Profile
Fellow’s Profile
Lead schoolboy expedition to Peru with scientific and mountaineering objectives
1981
Scotland
My professional life began as a teacher of mathematics and in due course I became Head of Department then Director of Studies before being appointed Deputy Head at Queen's College, Taunton.
During this period I led various schoolboy expeditions (Arctic Norway, Skye, Jura, the Pyrenees and the French Alps) culminating in my Fellowship, when I led the Glenalmond Peru Expedition to the Andes in 1981. Our group had various objectives including ornithology, archaeology, monitoring acclimatisation and, of course, mountaineering. I led a small group of our schoolboy expeditioners up a previously unclimbed peak (Quipucamayoc at 15,100ft) named after the Inca official (camayoc) who kept knotted ropes (quipu), which recorded important information in the absence of a written language. Our descent was delayed when the abseil rope became knotted. A subsequent school expedition went to Ladakh to climb and trek in the Himalayas.
Eventually I became Rector (Headmaster) of The Glasgow Academy in 1995. I retired from that position in 2005 before spending almost two years in Shenzhen, People's Republic of China, teaching statistics to Chinese pupils.
Adventure has always been a part of my life, particularly during my Fellowship.
All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.
All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.