Andy Cave

History

Andy grew up in Royston, a small coal-mining village in South Yorkshire. On leaving school he followed family tradition and began work down the pit, but during the 1984–85 miners’ strike he discovered climbing on his local Peak District crags. Finding he had a natural talent Andy progressed through hard trad E7s, sport routes and hard Scottish winter climbing before venturing further afield into the Alps, blitzing the classic routes. Taking the alpine climbing ethic into the Himalayas Andy made ascents including Gasherbrum IV, the Ogre, Trango Tower and Shishapangma before a fateful ascent of Changabang saw his partner Brendan Murphy swept to his death on the descent. Andy also discovered a talent for writing with his first book, Learning to Breathe, winning the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature in 2005. His second book, Thin White Line, received many accolades including the 2011 Leggimontagna Prize, Italy. Andy has also made numerous radio and TV appearances on BBC and ITV.

Movies

Distilled
Distilled
Himself
Scotland in winter is an arena where mountaineers pit their skills against exacting climbs often in ferocious conditions. It is respected by climbers around the world. Distilled examines what makes the climbing here so potent. Andy Cave first climbed in Scotland as a teenager. This was the start of a lifelong journey for Andy, which took him from the depths of a Yorkshire coal mine to the peaks of the Himalayas. As the story unfolds we see dramatic footage of Andy climbing some of Scotland’s classic and most challenging winter routes in the full spectrum of conditions that Scotland’s mountains can conjure. Distilled is a celebration of Scottish winter climbing and a poignant profile of a life spent in the mountains.