Do you mean much less as far as price, or rope length?

rappelling sounds pretty straight forward but more people with all sorts of background get killed while doing it so you need to do your homework first before rapping off from an anchor especially going down on ocean side cliff with potential of too many unknown things that could go wrong.

once you study both rappelling and ascending rope ( in case you don't make down to the bottom) then you can go buy stuff to get your kit made.

for simple short distance (under 300 foot) rap you need

200-300 foot 10mm +- 0.5mm static rope
(2-4) set of 20-25 footer 1" webbing (4000lbs rated)
A rappelling device (8 plate with side ear)
A pair of gloves
Helmet
Any adjustable harness
5 locking and 5 non-locking aluminum carabiner with min 20kn rating
headlamp
rope bag with backpack strap
topo map of area and plan B kit in case you spend a night on the wall freezing your ass off because you miss-calculated the rap distance
cell phone # and a note on the car so park ranger know you are goofing around.

The gear you asked about is a tactical kit that is kind of ninja-looking and really not something one sees around in areas where people go rappelling or climbing or canyoneering or caving. I think someone posted a youtube of himself and a friend using a kit like this to rap off of a parking garage. Funny stuff.

That's sounds like more than what i'm after right now. I'm talking about mostly low angle stuff for some quick fun exploring. I'm not talking about going on a multiple day hike way into the wilderness alone. I'm talking about maybe being out and about, seeing a cool creek down an embankment I can't safely walk down, and don't feel like walking way around to get to. Any high angle I did I would most likely be very short <100' and i'd have someone else around for help.

I do see the importance of learning to ascend a rope, even when just rappelling after reading that article about the two guys getting stuck on El Capitan. But again i'm talking very mild stuff you'd probably laugh at for now. Reading around here though is making me interested in maybe climbing and learning more in depth stuff.

Any good links/books/info I can read through that aren't some google'd eHow-to that will get me killed?
Also, what are the non locking carabiners for?

That's sounds like more than what i'm after right now. I'm talking about mostly low angle stuff for some quick fun exploring. I'm not talking about going on a multiple day hike way into the wilderness alone. I'm talking about maybe being out and about, seeing a cool creek down an embankment I can't safely walk down, and don't feel like walking way around to get to. Any high angle I did I would most likely be very short <100' and i'd have someone else around for help.

I do see the importance of learning to ascend a rope, even when just rappelling after reading that article about the two guys getting stuck on El Capitan. But again i'm talking very mild stuff you'd probably laugh at for now. Reading around here though is making me interested in maybe climbing and learning more in depth stuff.

Any good links/books/info I can read through that aren't some google'd eHow-to that will get me killed?

Also, I just stretched out our 200' rope bag in the station. Never had the whole thing deployed before, man that's a lot of rope. Think i'll just get 100'

Also, seeing all the safety measures here and the FD make me chuckle at my military rap experiences. So much safety and double checking, belay lines and such, and in the military we all were required to do raps with incorrectly tied swiss seats with old rope in terrible condition.

That all looks pretty reasonable.

30' of accessory cord is a lot of Prusik loops, but it can be useful for other things, too.

Randyrhoades,

I agree the gear you got looks good for rappelling, or ascending the line. Also good for hauling.

You might invest in more webbing. In my neck of the woods it is helpful to have much more. I started with a 60-footer, and when tied in a loop it is reduced to just under 30 foot. This is ideal for me to girth hitch on any stout tree and still have plenty left over to get to the edge for setting up a top rope anchor. Later, I got another 60 foot and cut that to a 20 and 30 giving me 10 and 15-foot loops.

Webbing is tied in a loop with a water knot (tails should be 6 inches or maybe a bit more).

There's other ways to use webbing of course. A method I like and learned from reading about rescue anchors is 'wrap three pull two'. Very strong and kind to the trees; however, it consumes a lot of webbing.

You can fabricate a harness with the webbing and practice on a hillside where there is no danger of actually falling. Look up munter hitch for rappelling. You can use that instead of a fig-8 rappelling device; however, it will put kinks in your static line.

fwiw: Please don't ever use that static rope for climbing of any kind, even top roping. I know you stated initially that you are not interested in climbing, but should you change your mind you should know that a static line will not stretch enough to soften the fall the way a climbing rope is designed to stretch. A short fall onto a static line can break the climbers back as the fall is arrested.

Keep that in mind if / when you ascend the line with prussic loops. If you take a fall with any slack in the line it can be painful.

Above all do lots of practice on hillsides before you actually commit to rappelling off of something where your life actually depends on the system. If you are learning this by yourself you must be exactly right every time. With that said, I repeat my advice and strongly encourage you to seek out people you can learn from in real life.

I will confess that when I started climbing in 2005 I was eager to begin, not very social, and taught myself many things by practicing in situations I thought were safe. I was lucky I did not injure myself. In retrospect, I realize I was foolhardy, and even did things like teach my wife how to belay and put her in a situation where she would be helpless to do anything for me if I got injured.

Practicing on a hillside is safe, and could be a great way to attract attention and get invited to learn from more experienced people. The best thing that happened to me in my early days of climbing was to be invited to climb with a group of people who saw what I was doing. They were concerned and asked me and my wife to join them.

The leader of that group became one of my rock climbing mentors, and shortly after that I met my regular climbing partner.

There's safety in responsible groups. Seek them out and learn everything you can.

Wishing you fun and safety in all your rappelling endeavors.

--Bill