I have them tied together. It's saved my butt twice so far when climbing down. The stirrups don't hold on to my boots very well at all and the bottom drops down. Since it's a handclimber there's not much I can do but drop myself down to the platform. I make sure to have enough slack in my safety rope on the way down. When I'm at hunting height I take the seat and turn it off to the side so it's out of my way. The likelyhood of my base falling away is slim to none... but I work for emergency rooms and some of the 1 in a million injuries I see make me strangely paranoid. (like the guy who got his truck hit from the side and the barrel of the rifle in the gun rack in the back window impaled him in the head.)
