I usulally do not carry extra, but my tent lines are very long (so I can tie around huge rocks) so I cut off them when I need emergency cord to repair stuff. Sometimes I take about 20 feet to lower my pack if I anticipate I would need to do that. Once when I did not take extra cord, I just took the tent cord off the tent, tied them together, and used this to lower my pack. It was a bit tedious and time consuming, but it worked.