Tintagel is primary known for the ruins of what is believed to be King Author's legendary castle, but if you're a climber there is another attraction that is worth a visit. The bouldering at Tintagel is limited but it has what I consider to be the best single coastal boulder in the Southwest (as least the best I've seen). For the most part I've been pretty unimpressed with much of the coastal bouldering but Tintagel did not disappoint as it offers a high concentration of independent lines and a beautiful setting.
This massive boulder is the highlight of Tintagel and provides most of the good climbs on a steep face.
Most of England's coastal bouldering is tidal. That means that you have a window around low tide when you can climb and during large swells you might be totally hosed. It also means that during the winter these areas are absolutely pummeled by winter storms that can so some serious rearranging. This shot is from my first time at Tintagel last spring and if you look at the previous photo you'll notice a couple very large boulders missing just to the left of the monster I'm climbing. The ocean is powerful and this time it was nice and made room for a couple sweet roof climbs but you never know what will happen next winter. Do yourself a favor and do these awesome climbs now in case nature wants to rearrange.
Here is Mikey doing Purple Haze, one of the main climbs on the boulder.
Grant and Chris both fired the most sought after tick at Tintagel, Awol Apprentice. A great line and great sustained movement takes you right up the center of the massive boulder. This climb also used to be a few moves shorter but a couple years ago a large boulder was removed from underneath it and deposited under a different climb (which now is unclimbable).
While it's the straight ups that are the main draw there are plenty of linkup and variations as the boulder's features provide for plenty of alternative starts, exits and traverses. Lots of options if you want to get a get a workout. Mikey dialing in Awol in hopes of establishing the long traverse in from the left.
There are several other problems on different boulders with my favorite being Colorado Dreaming. This rig requires a bit of thuggery and trickery but is well worth figuring out. I'm told this problem didn't used to be so steep as the boulder shifted a couple years back. Crazy stuff as this boulder is seriously massive.
When high tide ends your bouldering session you can mosey over to Tintagel's castle and see where King Author used to hang. Pretty cool place.
