"Why climbingrope?" That's easy.

Some years ago I did field work in Canyon de Chelly, AZ. It is a vertically walled sandstone canyon with spectacular archaeology. My EDC pack invariably contained, at a minimum, 120 feet of 9mm climbing rope, usually with a swami seat and a couple of carabiners. This was standard,even if no climbing was contemplated. In that kind of country, the need to climb,safely, would be thrust upon you in all sorts of strange ways -lots of war stories.

My SAR pack came to hold about the same minimum amount of gear, but that is a somewhat different sort of situation.

Yesterday, I was a tour guide for a group and I stuck about 20 feet of 8mm cordage into my pack, along with somewhat more FA gear than I normally carry. As Sam Gamgee (LOTR) says, "you always need a bit of rope...."