One of our victims was a middle school teacher who attempted to do a single strand rappel of a 500 foot cliff with a 250 foot rope. When he reached the end of his rope (literally) he instructed his students not to call SAR but to go back to town and get some more rope! Some one called us anyway and we were able to get the guy down (our rope was 600 feet long).

Some very good points have been made about possible negatives in employing a rope, but that is true of nearly all gear - tents, stoves, you name it. The most critical aspect of a FAK is the training and knowledge of the person employing it, for instance. Just gear, blindly acquired, is of surprisingly little value, while the trained and aware person can accomplish a lot with very little.

A rope, properly employed, can open up a lot of country.