Slacklining at Palisade Head

The big topic on Perfect Duluth Day’s Facebook page over the past two days is whether the above photo showing a slackliner at Palisade Head is legit or a carefully edited hoax.

City Pages reports it’s legit.

The jaw-dropping image was captured last Sunday by Brandon Olmscheid. After finishing a gig the previous day in Duluth, the St. Cloud-based photographer decided to venture up the North Shore in pursuit of sunrise shots. Instead, he happened upon a group of people slacklining — a tightrope-like activity that (mercifully) includes a safety tether.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw one of them start to walk across a line of rope over the steep cliffs,” Olmscheid says. “As I started taking photos I couldn’t stop because I was still so amazed.”

Mark McKee and Michael Nichols were the slackliners tip-toeing along 580 feet of line suspended about 300 feet above Superior that day. Together, they run Minnslack, a group/podcast for Midwest slackline enthusiasts. The regional popularity of slacklining is growing, McKee says.

11 Comments

Dave Sorensen

about 6 years ago

I've been wrong before, but I doubt this is real. Palisade Head is slightly convex. Where would that line be leading to?

Paul Lundgren

about 6 years ago



I'm not sure if I'm a believer or not, but above is different shot from the Minnslack Facebook page, and below is a Google Satellite image. The perspectives are different, so it's kind of hard to tell if it's possible or not.

Dave Sorensen

about 6 years ago

This also shows that little point in the background. The angle of the slackline seems wrong.

Dave Sorensen

about 6 years ago

The first photo made it look like the daredevil was walking out to sea, but after seeing the others I'm not so sure. We need a photo with both ends of the line, to compare with the shoreline.

Dave Sorensen

about 6 years ago

Well, the photographer was willing to be interviewed on the radio about this, and there's a YouTube video from four years ago showing a slackline installed up there. I only got invested in this because of all the interweb gaslighting going on, and I just want the truth to be the truth when I'm looking at pretty pictures of familiar places, goddamnit!

Paul Lundgren

about 6 years ago


If it's a hoax, it's getting more and more elaborate.

Helmut Flaag

about 6 years ago

Only thing elaborate is the lack of video.

Avery Cassar

about 6 years ago

Sorry y'all its real. Live in the metro now but grew up climbing in the area and am still close with lots of locals. Got a few photos/videos of the guys out on the wire sent my way while friends were up there climbing. It's loooong, but people have done much longer. I doubt anybody who actually has a line that long even cares to try and make a hoax video. In a world of clickbait fake/sensationalized news we've all grown a little more leery. Just some people havin' some good ol' innocent fun up on the head.

Helmut Flaag

about 6 years ago

Don't be sorry. Be real.

Dave Sorensen

about 6 years ago

Kudos to the adventurers. It would be fun to watch those videos.

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