Okay, one person, six people, however the party is described, the party still does have "mass" in the game environment. When part of the "1st person" body is still over the floor adjoining the ladder shaft, you can't go down, just like you can't go through a doorway if you're not lined up properly. If you don't want to use the arrow keys on the view screen or if you've removed them, you can use keyboard or combination keyboard and mouse. Use the mouse view (left mouse click drag) to look up or down, scooch over to directly face the ladder, then use keyboard forward arrow key to ascend or descend.
When characters only have 12+/- hitpoints and fall to lose 4+/-, and then, for instance, immediately have to battle with a wood spider, the odds are against everyone surviving the encounter. So it does matter, more at the beginning than later perhaps, to be able to successfully use a ladder.
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