I was spending time this afternoon looking for places I have not been before and I noticed hidden right in the top left corner of the page something that I have not seen before: "Treeman's Blog"
I entered the area with enthusiasm and ready to see into the soul of TCI founder and to my surprise there are a bunch of great stories there that teach, entertain some are whimsical and some are educational. I encourage all the new climbers and those that have known Peter for a while to read over his musings and they will learn quite a bit of TCI history. So, now that I have found this place I will be checking it regularly for future pieces of tree climbing wisdom.
Check it out I promise that you would enjoy it!

One last place that new climbers should read for all types of Information is the Gear Review Area of the board. There is a lot of easy to find info from many climbers about what works and what their favorite climbing gear is. This info would be priceless before you make a gear purchase to see what other climbers think. Your time will be well worth it.

Oldtimer,
Thanks for giving my blog a read. Blogging is a different _style_ of writing. It's a discipline all of itself.

The blog has RSS Feed. So all you do is subscribe and the entries get e-mailed to you automatically. No need to visit the TCI web site. That is the beauty of RSS (Really Simple Syndication).

The TCI message board is set up with RSS as well. You only need to post on a thread once to get put on the RSS feed feature. You get e-mailed automatically when ever an addition is made to the thread you are watching.

Difference between a message board and blog:
1. Message boards are conversations.
2. Blogs are commentaries.

Both message board and blogs are interactive.

I invite everyone here to make comments on my blog. Why?
1. You get to express yourself.
2. Others get to know you.
3. You meet new people.
4. You help to increase the size of the tree climbing community with increased traffic- something search engines notice; the activity level that is.

So again, here is my invitation for you to take a look see at my blog. Don't get keyboard fright if you are new to blogging. It's really something simple (another RSS feature).

Hello Peter - Happy New Year!
I enjoyed giving your Blog a reading from time to time and to see what is going on in your part of the world.
Keep up the good work with you Blog.


I like the "conversational _style_" of the Message board postings in "discussion" _style_ even though sometimes we get our comments out of contest or say something that the reader interprets it in a judgemental or critical way even that was not our primary intention.
I enjoy the "question and answer" format but sometime I feel that we may be giving advise to a "New climber" that could misinterpret or misuse our "advise" and could do some personal harm so I restrict myself from time to time (not often enough thou.)

Oldtimer,
I personally think it is better to express yourself through communication than to hold back for fear of misinformation to new climbers. Readers will get what they will get. I do not see any way to protect new climbers from themselves other than clear English language.

When climbers do not share knowledge, I think it invites experimentation, which is probably more dangerous.

Does anyone else have anything to say about this?

I agree, Peter. To offer good information, and plenty of it, is to ensure safety for new climbers. Similarly, letting a new climber "figure it out for themselves" when you can offer good advice is, in my opinion, negligence.

On the other side of the coin, there has been a good amount of beginner and novice questions being asked on the forum lately. THAT'S GOOD. Beginners, and experienced climbers alike, shouldn't be afraid to ask questions. The only stupid one is the one you didn't ask. (taught by my 3rd grade teacher!)