MinneCulture | Minnesota Slackliners Face their Fears

Slacklining is an extreme sport that Minnesotans practice a few feet off the ground between trees at Kenwood Park — and 200 feet in the air between cliffs at Tettegouche State Park. It can take months to master standing on a highline, years to walk without falling, and hundreds of tries to land a trick. It’s a sport best tackled with friends. That’s where Slackline Minnesota steps in, a three-year-old nonprofit that saw a surge in interest during the pandemic. The group meets at Twin Cities parks every week, sharing Rubbermaid tubs full of gear and posting details at slacklineminnesota.org and the facebook group MINNSLACK. The longest slackline in Minnesota, more than 1,000 feet long, crosses a decommissioned mine pit near Chisholm. A favorite destination is the North Shore, where slackliners camp together and walk the lines until sundown. KFAI’s Michelle Bruch spent time with slackliners near the Mississippi River in St. Paul to learn more about the sport.