So, not to sound like a broken record but:

Dark elf assassin with 75 dex, 180 speed (probably doesn't really apply to this situation but I'm pointing it out anyway), climbing at 100, and very light corruption still falls when climbing into rift.

Seriously? What pc would be better equipped than this? Yes, he did have a climbing set (actually 4). He was wielding executor, but he was also blessed by his god and had fate smiles upon him and was wearing the ankh.

This is absurd and badly needs to change. Too many bad outcomes see to totally disregard pc stats.

EDIT: I'm almost positive the pc was not burdened on descent. As Blasphemous pointed out, he may have had a very high carry weight, but, so what, if he wasn't burdened, he wasn't burdened, and it shouldn't matter. Everything about the way the pc's stats are displayed to the player implies that it is burden rather than actual weight that matters. Why be deceptive here?