Originally posted by warrenchmobile:

What key press would make your viking climb up a ladder? What key press would make your viking climb down a ladder?

Moving up or down a vertical ladder would require a viking to use both hands and feet. Would things one is carrying in one's hands (shield, weapon or tool) be automatically put away or would one have to consciously unequip them? What about re-equipping them?

Why don't you ask them? Since you know that "they would never consider this," you must have a more direct means of communicating with them than the Steam forum. Why don't you use it?

"E" to go up or down depending on what end of the ladder you're pointing to - just like pretty much all other interactions in the game.

And automatically putting things away is already supported, it happens when your viking ends up in deeper water. These are all non-issues.