Ryan Sklenica FA’s Stone Crown (9a/+)

Ryan Sklenica, who two years ago established the second 9a+ in Australia, Hartkäse, has done the FA of Stone Crown (9a/+) in Nowra. (c) Talia Su

Can you tell us more about the FA?
I invested around 10 sessions into the route this year (as well as a few last year). On the send I was at my limit, and had to try harder than ever, but because of the reasonably short time frame I decided to go with the slash grade.

The Cheesedale cave is a 35m roof broken up by small headwalls. This route starts on an existing 8a, before traversing left into ‘Stone Crown’. The new part starts with a long 15 move boulder around v12 [8A+], a good rest, and then one more tricky boulder right before the glorious top out, which makes the route so much more satisfying - untying whilst on top of the crag is an unreal experience.

When I first went to Cheesedale there was only one established line that went out the entire cave. Over the last few years I’ve been bolting new lines with a good friend (Matt), we put up a handful of shorter lines around the 8b/8b+ range. The remaining lines we bolted go out the entire cave and all of them will sit somewhere in the 9th grade, ‘Stone Crown’ being the easiest.

What is your climbing background?
I started climbing down in Tasmania, Australia about 10 years ago. I’ve spent seasons adventure climbing on the sea stacks of Tassie, seasons bouldering in Squamish and many more seasons sport climbing in a variety of areas, I’ve always enjoyed pushing it all.

In 2021 I focused on trad climbing and bouldering, that’s when I did Cobra Crack and every boulder in Squamish. After that season I moved back home and focused more on pushing my physical limit in sport climbing. I climbed my first 9a near the end of 2022 with the FA of Fiction in Tasmania. I then climbed another FA in my now home crag - Nowra - called ‘Baby Cakes’ 9a, as well as Hartkäse which I went out on a limb and suggested 9a+ for as the first of the grade in Australia, as it felt on par or harder than others I had come very close to doing overseas.

Living in Australia there are very limited options for hard sport climbing, however, I am fortunate enough to live near Nowra where I can develop these hard routes in a style that I love the most.