BURSTZach Galla has just made the third ascent of Megatron V17 in Eldorado Canyon, Colorado. It was the 25-year-old American climber’s third of the grade. In early December 2025, he climbed his first with Sean Bailey’s Shaolin in Red Rock, Nevada. One week later, he topped his second V17 with Daniel Woods’ Return of the Sleepwalker.
“What a perfect boulder,” Galla said on Instagram. “With most of the hard boulders I’ve done, the majority of the difficulty gets worked out before the send. When it does all come together, the go feels relatively effortless. Megatron was quite the opposite experience. The moves and short links felt manageable early on, but putting it all together was my real challenge.
“As I sat under the boulder getting ready for my first try of the day, I tried to convince myself I had sent Megatron before and that this go would be an attempt at repeating it. With this mindset, I pulled on with less attachment to the outcome and a sole focus on the move in front of me. Before I knew it, I had reached the final few moves. pumped and numb, I dug deep and executed the best I could. It was just barely enough.”
Galla’s friends (who also happen to be among the best climbers in the world) were quick to comment on his mental approach on Instagram. “Damn, that’s a nice little doublethink tactic,” quipped Nathaniel Coleman. “You’ve done all the remaining ones too, just gotta go repeat them now,” said Leo Bøe.
In 2017, Daniel Woods established the stand-start version of the problem, Tron V14. As described by Woods, the full Megatron links seven moves of solid V15 into the ten moves of Tron V14 without any rest in between. The climb had been a long-standing open project, with some of the best boulderers in the country trying their hand at the line, including Daniel Woods and Drew Ruana.
In 2022, fresh off his first ascent of Alphane V17, Shawn Raboutou made the coveted first ascent of Megatron. With his first ascent, Raboutou became the first in the world to send (and FA) two V17 boulders. The climb is the second of the grade in the United States, the first being Woods’ Return of the Sleepwalker in Red Rock, Nevada. In April 2025, roughly three years later, Hamish McArthur made the second ascent after only five sessions.
Galla is one of the strongest boulderers in the world. On February 2, Galla made the third ascent of Devilution V16 in the Buttermilks in California. The 25-year-old American’s ascent came just a couple of months after he topped Shaolin and Return of the Sleepwalker. On January 14, he sent Lucid Dreaming V15 in the Buttermilks. In September 2025, he repeated America’s first V16, Woods’ Hypnotized Minds in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. In addition to Hypnotized Minds, he has several absolute classic V16s to his name, including Grand Illusion, Sleepwalker, Sosa, and perhaps most impressively, the long-awaited second ascent of The Process.
Shawn Raboutou’s First Ascent of Megatron V17
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