Loose bolt on Leaning Tower @ Devils Lake

Hey everyone,

Devils Lake
Just a heads up, I climbed up leaning tower today and the normal bolt for rappelling is loose enough to move by hand. I could not pull it out completely but I would recommend that it be avoided/removed. This means there is no longer an easy rappel off the tower, (there is a 5.2 downclimb however)

I can put in new anchor bolts unless the community or the park has issues with it

That "bolt" has been loose for a long time. I have refused to rappel from it for a long time as well. I feel much safer on the downclimb that winds its way across the south face of the tower. I'm not sure we need to add rap bolts there.

I wouldn't call it a "bolt" per say. It's more like a piece of rod pounded in a crack. And that has been loose for at least 20 years. Interestingly, a similar "bolt" was pounded into a crack at the top of Brinton's. I think that's been gone for a number of years now.

It would be a very bad idea to replace this with a real bolt. The downclimb is secure, and, more significantly, the ethic at DL is for no new bolts to be added, anywhere, anytime, and for any reason.

Thanks for the community response and conversation. I will not be placing any anchor bolts nor should any be placed on the tower in the future for multiple good reasons.

Wow, that's totally misleading. I pictured a bolt in a drilled hole. I scroll down, and the first glance causes my mind to react with "THAT'S A FREAKIN' PITON (pee-tahn)!"