treeboy, when i first started climbing i was confused about that same issue. it felt like i could only tree climb as far as my initial tie in point. but, what you need to do is bring a lanyard up the tree with you. once you reach your tie in point and can go no further, clip into your lanyard. slowly give your climb rope some slack to test your lanyard and then unclip your climb rope. now, toss the climb rope over the next closest branch or wherever you want to go next in the tree. i highly recommend that you try this low to ground or in a small tree until you get the hang of it.