Put this in your "For what its worth" pile.
I've been working off SRT exclusively for most of this season, since spring. In that time I can think of only maybe three trees that I've done using a trad setup. I've concluded that SRT is MUCH less work. There are only a coule of short comings but balanced off against all of the pluses, it makes way more sense.
Now, I know that I'm a huge advocate of SRT so that biases me, but only a little
This summer I had a new fellow working for me. He did some climbing but saw me climb a lot. I asked him if he thought that he would rather learn SRT or trad. He said SRT by a long shot.
Working SRT is pretty radical for arbos. But you must know that we are the only working rope profession that works off a dynamic, in the moving sense, rope. The rest of the rope world keeps the rope static, non-moving, and the climber moves on the rope.
I'll make a prediction here: Within a generation there will be a large percentage of arbos that will be working off SRT. Trad or DdRT will be eight-tracked by then. Go ahead and get the heretic fires kindled. It won't make a difference to me, I wear Nomex climbing gear
In SRT rope friction doesn't even exist. The rope stays in postion and the climber moves on the rope. Rope drag doesn't even factor in the equation. Working around, up or under limbs is easier too. When I move around, all I do is grab a long bight of slack and toss it ahead of me. Then, when I come back to the vertical portion of the rope, I just pull the slack along.
Since SRT is 1:1 I'm not pulling rope in and out of my system. To tend slack, I pull half as much rope as you do. Sometimes I don't even have to pull rope. In fact, the only time I pull rope is when I don't have a fall of rope below me. This would be if I were working way off of my lead.
Keep an open mind.
By the way, how many people have ever worked off SRT. I don't mean just ascending SRT, and then making cuts in a straight down descent. Working is moving up and down on the rope.
That's where the conversion starts though. First the climber understands that SRT is much easier for access then pretty soon they're moving laterally when the light bulb goes off. Hmmmm...this is way easier than all of that hitch and false crotch stuff.
Tom