Palisade Head is the most serious and richest crag in Minnesota. With very few climbs easier than 5.8 and the bulk of climbs harder than 5.10, this is the place in Minnesota to hone your hardman skills. Easy off-width cracks, heinous finger cracks, crystal faces, there should be enough variety here to please almost anyone!
The Southern Ramparts is generally closed early in the season for Falcon nesting.
Climbs in the Amphetheatre tend to be the most popular and crowded and are also most easily visited by tourists. Plenty of crack systems to be found along the entire top of the Head to build anchors. If you are not feeling confident, a pair of ascenders is a good idea.
Getting There
About 2 Miles before the turn in for Tettegouche State Park
I grew up in Duluth and returned many times to climb at "The Head"....but never with locals.
Looks like from some of the attached photos, you guys are finally allowing people to use chalk. Is this true? I could tell you so many funny stories how aghast some people would treat me and finally ask, after seeing my chaulk bag, "you don't intend to use that here, do you?" ...I admit, I always respected your ethics and I didn't use it there.
Anybody placing any bolts out there? Or is this just too far away from the trad arena? I have never been into top roping, but every trip out there, people would look at me very strangely if I was actually leading something. Never once, did I see any other climbers out there leading anything, always these amazingly elaborate top rope set ups with like 20 carabiners and miles of slings the gumbies were tripping over. I finally figured out why, once I was out in front....the routes were so often difficult or cumbersome to protect and bolts were as scarce as in the Gogarth (Wales). It actually felt a lot like the Gogarth...but anyway, how is it? Does vigilante law still prevail and are drillers still hung up upside down with weights and dragged from an Iron Ore Boat out to the Duluth Harbor? Don't get me wrong....I love the Gogarth, but it's alot easier to protect than Palisade Head, both on the route and topping out.
I often hoped I would run into Pagel somewhere and I'd be able to ask him and ride him a little, but I never did. Gee, he didn't even come from Duluth or Northern Minnesota, but he sure ran the herd hard in Minnesota!!
Chalk... well... yes... the chalk ethic on the north shore was more or less a by product of cultish frenzy and seperatist delusions. There are, of course, no legal ramifications for dipping into the white gold now and then on the north shore, nor any environmental data which would support that chalk is in any way a threat to that ecosystem. Unless you count the sensitive egos of the locals. I went to school at UMD for a year and a half in the middle 90s. Thumbing through Pagels guide book and scoping routes I came under the impression that I would surely find some hardy souls to partner up with and get some business done. You can imagine my dismay after finding out that 99% of the climbing community would or could not lead much of anything. Since I wanted to lead this obviously lead to dilema. To chalk, or not to chalk. After much internal debate I finally came to a workable and exceptable solution. I would use chalk only if leading. There it was, simple and concise. I would like to say this was the end of my ethical struggle, but alas my solution only lasted at most a week. After listening to the arguments of those who oppose the use of chalk I quite simply found them to be baseless and trite. That is my opinion- I also have an asshole. The important thing to remember here is this; If a local ethic serves a purpose, or a greater good then it is up to time and the climbing community as a whole wether or not that ethic is to endure. I do not respect the chalk ethic on the north shore. That is my choice. What happens down the line is up to the individuals in the community. All I know is, if I am sticking my neck out on the line to do new routes there on gear (most of which are difficult), then I am going to carry the added tool of chalk in a bag. To me, it is silly not to, especially at the Head and Shovel. These crags are continuously blasted by storms, and the utter neglect of many of the more difficult routes would lead one to suspect that they would never get greased up. I have been threatened and slandered over this issue, but at the end of the day, I am more concerned about the quality of the routes climbed than I am about wether or not I used chalk. Lets just say it doesn't keep me up at night.
There is a growing number of modern testpieces to be found at the Head which will test both your fitness and nerves. Ironiclly, many of the newer routes have been done by visiting Wisconsinites. We will try to post more of these as time goes on. Bolts are found on some of the free routes here and there, though not many. The Head just doesn't lend itself to great face climbing. The best lines always follow a natural weakness. Echoes and the Echoes Extentsion are notable eceptions.
Routes to do-
Don't Bring a Knife to a Gunfight 11b pg James ? Road to Emerald City (top pitch) 12a/b pg Dave Groth Sol de Gloria 12b pg Groth first lead Aching Alms 12b g Seth Dyer Sinners Last Gift 12c r JJ Schlick Lord of the Flies 12b/c g Groth Palisaid 13a pg13 Groth Superior Arete 12c tr Groth Birds of a Feather 12a pg JJ Schlick And, of course, Mr. Lean 11d pg Posieden adventure 11d pg
Hey Guys, I learned to climb in MN in 1975. We didn't use chalk then. We didn't use friends, or brass nuts then either. In the early 80s I spent a great day top-roping with Dave Pagel at the Head. He is a great guy and a lot of fun to hang with. In deference to him I did not use my chalk and was a able to ascend many of the harder routes of the time. Had we been leading you would still be able to see the cloud. It is now 2006 and the thought of not using chalk seems absurd to me. I don't plan on leaving my cams behind. Climbing is a personal thing, climb it with or without, have fun, live and let live. Thanks for any new routes too.
I've looked around online and have the WI/MN guidebook for Palisade and can't seem to find the info i'm looking for. Does anyone know of any routes that would be good practice for multi-pitch clean aid? Mainly looking for C2- or less and was wondering if there was anything up there that could be done multipitch at that grade? Thanks for any help
On Sun 5/25 I was at the top of Poseidon Adventure and when I stuck my head over the edge to look down I disturbed a pair of what appeared to be falcons (peregrines?), perhaps nesting in this area of the cliff.
Anyone else notice this? If they are indeed nesting, the section of cliff between North Tower and Poseidon should be considered closed to climbing.
Palisade Head
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