Having finally watched Distilled by Hot Aches I enjoyed the film so much I thought it was worthy of review. I'm a big fan of the productions from the Hot Aches crew and so I've been keen to get my hands on a copy of this for a while and it did not disappoint. The film is almost an abridged autobiography of Andy Cave (Boardman Tasker winner, Piolet d'Or nominee and all round Yorkshire climbing legend).
Though Cave has done and seen some extraordinary things, the way he talks about the mountains, Scotland and British climbing, he manages to evoke that most basic feeling of adventure we get from the mountains. In quite an understated and typical Yorkshire manner he encapsulates everything that makes winter climbing great. The sensation of being a fixed point of calm in a white, cold, wild mountainscape, being completely in control whilst on the brink of chaos. The excellent narrative provided by Andy provides a sound track to some truly brilliant positions on classic routes with the conditions varying from almost alpine serene to "proper Scottish".
The Hot Aches team have become masters of this style of documentary-cum-biography-cum gnarly climbing flick and I can't wait to watch Wide Boyz!
In summary Distilled is well worth a watch, whether you're a winter climber or not it will make you want to sharpen up your points, load up the car, leave the grim weather behind and go find something properly Scottish!
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