People with 4wd vehicles sometimes drive too far on snowy roads that they would have not done without the 4wd. Then they high center and are stuck. The 4wd enables them to get into situations they would not have done without it. Of course, once you really know what you are doing with a 4wd, you realize that it is not going to do you much good if you high center, nor is it going to help you stop on ice.

Same with a rope. It is a too that enables you to do stuff you would not do without it. Fine if you know the limits of the rope and what you are getting into. You and I well know that if we rappel off a cliff we had better have a plan on either how to get back out or know of a route at the bottom that gets us to where we want to go. Another example of a rope making you less safe, is if you use it incorrectly to cross a stream. (there is a correct way to use a rope to cross streams). If you did not have the rope to begin with, you would judge the stram too risky, and retreat. But you and your buddy have this rope and think you are safer and tie into it. Wrong. So instead of retreating you think you have a safety line, and cross, fall in and are pulled under.

We used to have a saying in Wyoming, that only people with 4wd's ever got stuck; everyone else had enough sense to stay home during a big storm.

I dare say that most backpackers do not know how to properly use a rope.

I was not implying that this thread is not worthwhile. I just do remember that this is a "rerun". I personally have trouble digging up old threads, so I see why we repeat stuff. It would be interesting to pull up that old thread and see what was said.