TCNC IN THE NEWS AGAIN!

Yup, it's been busy!

I was interviewed recently for WNC magazine. I'll post a link if I can get one, or I'll post an image of the page.

Climb Safe!
Icabod

Gee...turns out I forgot to post the link! By the way, I don't always sound THAT goofy. They had me mic'd as I was making my initial ascent, and she started to interview me as I was climbing. I think I must have been having an asthma attack, I really sound weird.

The time lapse shot of her climbing is pretty cool. We even got the camera man up with us, he was perched in the air chair changing lenses and everything. After we rigged up a traverse to switch the mic to Joseph, I think they were comfortable enough to let us lower his camera down.

It was a good day.

Here it is. Click Here!

Nice story. I like it when media paints an accurate picture of what we do.

I like the saying \"Climb your own climb\" Even when I've had other people climbing with me it still feels like a partnership between me and the tree!

Michael

Nice report, well documented, stayed with the facts without getting too technical and well photographed. It is always a good idea to include the reporter in the climb so they can enjoy the sport.
Keep up the good work.

Climb your own climb.

That's a phrase my climbing partner and I use alot. When we work with students, it's a way to ease the concerns of those who don't get it very quickly, or to tame those who think it's a major competition. With the media we've used it almost every time, for the same reasons, and also as an explanation for what we do what we do. Perhaps it's like the old phrase \"because it's there\".

Perhaps that should be TCNC's slogan?

It's so true Michael, I tend to forget others climbing with me when I don't climb solo. Regardless of the depth of conversations (which range from conversations metaphysical to quotes from Fletch and Blazing Saddles, or even spontaneous tunes from Three Amigos in the case of Joseph and I) there is always that part of the climb where everybody goes silent, and you know that's when everybody is into their own climb.

Nicole Furgeson, the reporter in the tree with us, got silent like that for about 10 minutes, stared off towards the nearby river, and asked nothing. I think part of it was relaxing from the strain of the climb, but you could see the change. You know the one, the change that happens when one's perspective on the world changes before your eyes. I've seen that change the first time a student stands up on a high up limb, the first time a climber awakes in a treeboat and sees the sunrise through the leaves. I've seen it when birds pass by eye level with a climber, the individual strands in each feather visible as the breeze carries it by. I've see it when for the first time a climber feels the tree move in the wind, not back and forth, but twisting and heaving, giving and correcting. It's the one thing that will keep me introducing others until I'm unable to climb. I love the look of wonder and amazement, and the far off look, the blissfull stare.

Climb your own climb indeed. Just don't forget to observe how others enjoy theirs.

I think it would make a perfect slogan!

I've often wondered why I feel at ease when up in a tree. I think it's because when you climb into the canopy you are leaving the ground behind (often you can't even see or hear the ground) and everything else associated with human society. You might only be 30 metres away but it is a completely different sphere,( even in a remote wilderness, you are still on the same old ground).

On the ground is where all human activity goes on and in leaving it behind you are leaving behind all of the worries and problems too. They no longer seem like the be-all-end-all of life because all there is is just you, the tree and the sky.

Astronaughts have felt the same thing whilst looking at the Earth from space. This shows that you don't need to get that far away from the ground to put things into perspective!

Keep climbing your own climb!

Michael