The Spoils

The Spoils is located off the big, west-facing ledge on Bell, just left of

Cosmosis

. This was apparently the first 5.12 route sent in Boulder Canyon. It follows a very exposed and overhung line on a beautiful portion of the cliff. It is fairly sustained down low with many technical and sequential moves. The upper half is easier but still sustained and pumpy, with occasionally tricky gear placements.

Start at the big chalked flake and work your way up the finger crack to the overhanging, shallow, left-facing corner system. The climbing is solid 5.11 or harder from the ground until you can get into the hand crack about 20 feet up. I felt the crux was getting into the hand crack at the end of the small corner, but some feel getting stood up on the flake down low may be the crux.

From the top of the corner, continue up the crack system with fun and steep liebacking and jamming (5.10+ or 11), moving left at the fork in the crack. At the top of the crack, you can go left to the anchor on Bell Buster, or go right to the Cosmosis anchor to rappel.

Very high quality rock and moves, with excellent protection! Not necessarily a "serious" route as suggested by some guidebooks... the gear is definitely there if you can hang out to place it.

Per

Ron Matous

: just a note in case anybody ever cares: I look this up once in a while to see if Rich Perch ever got his credit for three days of belaying while I worked out this route... in those days one lowered off rather than hang. Rich put up with three days of belaying to get this done; and, yes, it was 12b. It was also quite certainly the first 5.12 in the Boulder area, although I'm fucked if I can remember what year it was. EBs, for sure.

I used 4 green Alien-sized pieces, plus one Camalot each from fingers (gray) to hand sized. A gold Camalot is the biggest size needed but a blue Camalot could be placed too if desired. Nuts could be used in spots but are not recommended due to the pumpy nature of the pro stances. At the top of the crack, there's an old pin, and if you move left to the Bell Buster anchor you'll pass (as of 9/07) a cordelette that could be clipped.... It appears to have been set as a directional for top roping.