Megatron | 9A Boulder problem


Low start to Tron.

Previously tried by Daniel Woods before Shawn Raboutou made the first ascent. Also tried extensively by Drew Ruana who, at the time of writing, had put 75 sessions in to it.

Drew Ruana:

To me it breaks down into a 8 move v15/16 that’s on nasty crimps and underclings that feel like they’re gonna rip your pulley. There’s one right hand throw move to where the 14 starts that’s one of the hardest moves I’ve ever done and you basically have to climb v13/14 into a hard v12+ single move. Then do a bunch of foot moves and weird cut to establish on the 14. From there the 14 stand is guarding the top- you’ve already done a fucked up hard boulder (took me more days to link the sit than any other v15 and most v16s have taken me) into a nasty series undercling thrutches with bad feet. The 14 is wireable but having the energy to own those underclings at the end of basically climbing v17 is hard. To me this felt like a solid step up from rotsw [Return of the Sleepwalker], if rotsw had 1-2 more crux moves it’d be comparable I think. [1]

The problem was discovered by Chad Greedy. He gave it the working name partly after his pet chameleon, Megatron, who died shortly after he found the problem. [4]

References

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/climbing/comments/yw2uct/comment/iwi7mfx/

Contributors: remus

Pics + Vids

Shawn Raboutou
View this post on Instagram

Added at 17:11 on 15 November 2022
Shawn Raboutou
Added at 17:11 on 18 November 2022
Daniel Woods
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Added at 21:04 on 07 April 2021

Ascents

2 recorded ascents, including 1 unsuccessful ascent.

Climber Style Ascent Date Suggested Grade
Shawn Raboutou Boulder | worked 2022
First ascent.

Shawn started trying the problem in autumn of 2021 but was not able to climb the problem:

It was a really good season so I was able to try it all the way to mid/end December. My season came to an end, my body was starting to fall apart. My whole right arm would just go numb after a try. It was really bad! [4]

He then came back after climbing Alphane in April 2022 to try the line again.

It didn't feel like a good day, I didn't feel like I was going to do it. This one try, I just fucking kept going, I don't know what happened. [4]

The ascent was kept under wraps for a long time. Climbing.com:

While Raboutou was willing to comment on Alphane, he wasn’t ready to disclose what else he’s done that we should know about. Though unverified by Climbing, rumors circulate that Raboutou has also sent the Megatron project, in Colorado, another presumed V17. When asked about it, he simply replied, “I have another cool video coming out soon.” [2]

References

[1] https://www.8a.nu/news/shawns-9as-rumours-qpmk1

[2] https://www.climbing.com/news/shawn-raboutou-alphane-v17/

[3] https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck_SnuhDXC8/

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_MniTA8MYU

Daniel Woods Boulder | did not finish 2019

In 2018 Daniel put a month or so in to trying to link the lower section.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B7y77BgFQXw/