At the beginning of May, Anna Wild turned up to Malham without many expectations.

It was only her third session of sport climbing in 2023, only her third session on The Great Escape (8b+) since briefly trying it last year, and it was her third day of climbing in a row.

A short while later, she found herself at the top of the twenty-five metre Steve McClure route, having equalled her hardest ascent to date, and become the first woman to climb the route.

We got in touch with Anna to find out more:

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Congratulations on The Great Escape, what was it that drew you to the route?

Thank you! I think I just wanted to try a route that wasn't very busy so I didn't need to queue all the time! And I never really saw anyone on Cry Freedom (8c)/The Great Escape (8b+) so thought it would be a good one to try. But I also liked the sound of it from when other people recommended routes to me. I did initially want to try Cry Freedom which is the full version, but I think the top boulder is too hard for me.

When did you first try the route, and how many sessions did it take?

I had three sessions on it last year, but then it got a birds nest in it and I got more psyched for kilnsey so I didn't try it again until a couple of weeks ago. It took three sessions this year to get it done.

Talk us through the route!

It starts with a 7c+ ish route up to a fairly good rest and then there is a two bolt boulder problem which is the bulk of the route's difficulty. The moves are really cool: lots of undercuts and gastons. After this, it's straight into a pumpy finish which ends up traversing and leaving cry freedom before the top boulder and instead joining into predator.

What was the crux for you?

I'm not sure really, the boulder problem is definitely the crux but I struggled with linking those moves a lot more last year, it was very satisfying this year when it felt pretty steady to link. There is a tricky clip half way through the boulder problem that is quite sapping and I think continuing after that for the next few moves is probably the crux.

How did you go about working the route? Were you doing it alongside other people, or did you have any input from people who had climbed it previously?

My boyfriend Max has been trying Cry Freedom (8c) and Jim (Hulbert) had also done The Great Escape (8b+) fairly recently and remembers beta very well! That was helpful as Malham is definitely harder than most places I climb to work out the best sequence.

Tell us about the successful attempt, was it one of those where everything goes right and it feels ok, was it a case of it being a battle right until the very end, or was it somewhere in between?

I wasn't really expecting to do it as I was third day on and it was only my third sport session back this year so I was pretty surprised when I made it through the crux! I was so confident that I wasn't going to do it that I hadn't actually tried the  top of the route - which isn't very hard but it's a fairly run out traverse to join predator so I'd just been putting off trying that section.

I ended up falling off straight away but then I figured out the top section and on my next go I luckily made it through the crux again and got to the top.

How did this 8b+ compare to your other 8b+ route, Full on Action?

I think I am a bit stronger than last year so it felt a bit easier to me than Full On Action (8b+) and definitely took me less time to do. I think The Great Escape is less physical than Full on Action too and more technical, so on the actual go I did it, it didn't feel as bad, whereas when I did Full on Action it felt like the hardest thing I could physically do. I did get extremely pumped though and it was a battle at the top!

You seem to be in pretty good boulder form as well, with two 7C+ boulders to your name in the last couple of months - would you say that your goals are spread across both disciplines or are they mostly in one?

I 100% prefer sport climbing! But I do also enjoy bouldering and I really enjoy feeling stronger on routes that I tried the previous year after a winter of bouldering. I think my boulder strength will always be the limiting factor to my performance sport climbing as I think my endurance is really good, so that has made me more psyched for bouldering.

I have had quite a long bouldering season this winter and also went on a trip to Albarracin which I really enjoyed. I generally find bouldering more unpredictable as to whether I will enjoy it or not as sometimes I'll go and get nowhere on anything whereas other times I'll do loads and find problems that really suit me.

I think the main difference for me is that I love the process of already knowing the moves sport climbing and having them all worked out and just trying to link them all together, whereas often bouldering I'll be trying to do an individual move that I can't do and I enjoy that much less.

Tell us a bit about your goals for the year, anything else you're working on at the moment, or anything you're really keen to get on?

I'd like to do loads of climbing this summer as I finish uni in a couple of weeks so will have three months off before I start my PhD in September. I'm not sure at the moment whether I'll climb in the UK or try and go on a trip somewhere. I do have a trip to Flatanger planned for the end of August which is exciting!

If I end up staying here over summer I would like to try and do an 8c, True North (8c) is one that I've had my eye on for a while and I've done Full Tilt (8b) so just need to get the top section dialled. I think it will suit me as it's very powerful but also very sustained and doesn't have a rest after the one at the top of Full Tilt. Most of the routes I want to do in the UK are at Kilnsey as it is my favourite place to climb and the style suits me pretty well.