[KevinG]

My own thoughts:

There does not appear to be any restriction on the construction of the "rope" itself, beyond the maximum width (not diameter) and that it must consist of non-metallic fibers that are "twisted, tied, braided, or woven together". Velcro itself is a piece of webbing woven together with strands to form either the hook or the loop. It is absolutely fibers that are woven together. That said you couldn't take two sticky-backed pieces of Velcro and stick them together, but you could sew them.

The rope is considered part of the arena, therefore the robot rules don't apply. There is no rule saying that an arena piece can't be covered in hook tape, or that it can't connect to the carpet. Arguably you could make a "rope" long enough to touch the carpet and actually adhere to it using hook tape.

R05 bans the use of hoop and loop for "tractions devices" which are defined as "all parts of the ROBOT that are designed to transmit any propulsive and/or braking forces between the ROBOT and FIELD carpet." So unless your climbing mechanism also interfaces with the field carpet then R05 would not apply to it.

R08 specifically states that the rope, once removed from the davit, is no longer part of the field. So you can use a winding mechanism or something else that would be difficult to quickly remove.

So barring further clarification by FIRST it seems like a hook and loop fastener "rope" would be perfectly legal. That said don't be surprised if FIRST doesn't clarify this at some point, particularly since it seems like a fairly easy solution that goes against the spirit of a "rope".

Please note that the above comments are my personal thoughts and do not reflect any official stance on the part of FIRST or the Chesapeake District. They are, at best, a snapshot of how I would personally interpret the rules as available should I encounter it at a competition as a RI/LRI.