Pete,

When the stuff was knarly enough during the T500 to hook up (wasn't back in 2009 the last time I did it) the safety line, I used two carabiners with about 25' of high-tech line cover with a about a 15' bungee inside of it. This "scrunched up" the line to make it more manageable on the tramp.

More importantly though is that I had a knife on my lifejacket that I could easily get to in case I got dragged by the tether. I still don't like the idea of the tether but I can see how they can add a degree of comfort to some.