Ryan Sklenica FA’s Turbo Mouse (9a+)

Ryan Sklenica, with four 9a FA’s and beyond in Australia to his name, has done the first ascent of Turbo Mouse (9a+) in Nowra.

Can you tell us more about the first ascent and the process behind?
I first tried this project early in 2024. I don’t think I managed to do all the moves on day one but it felt possible. Over the season, I figured out how to do the moves and started to link sections together. Then the progress was quick, I was able to link up to the final move early on. I got sucked into thinking I was close, that the route would go soon.. months later I realised I had underestimated the final move. After falling off this single move more than 100 times the season was over.

This year, I’ve put in more work than ever before and in around 10 sessions I managed to link from the 2nd bolt to the top, climbing most of the hard section on the route. The following session we rocked up to the crag and everything was wet, so naturally I went to finish bolting another route and decided I wouldn’t bother trying for the day.

The mythical ‘Cheesedale’ wind blew in around midday, and by early afternoon the routes were drying up. I decided to give a half-assed red point go and fell on the final move yet again, but conditions felt good now so I would give some more tries. On this no pressure day, where I wasn’t even going to try, on my third red point of the day and of the year - having only done low-points so far this season, I stepped off the ground and sped to the last move as usual, I arrived at the jump feeling no different than usual, looked up, jumped, and held the swing as if was nothing but one of the many links I had done. I couldn’t quite believe that I had done it from the ground.