Yeah, Butch, two complete systems might be a hard sell to a production climber. Although I thought I remember reading that Kevin Bingham had the discipline and tenacity to try to use it exclusively for at least a good while, in order to give it a fair shot and see how it affected the way that he works. He might still climb using two systems, for all I know. I think Kevin liked the impact it had on how he works, at least at that time.
Having said all of that, the member who started this thread (Robert) is fairly new to climbing, by his own admission, and I think he is under little pressure from outside to perform at any certain speed. His objective seems to me to be that of safely accomplishing a task that he sets for himself. So he has the freedom to take as much time as he needs to to get his systems set up in a way that makes him feel comfortable and safe. At least that is my interpretation of things. I think that if Robert has the necessary equipment to run two systems, and he has the time, he should give it a try and see what he thinks of it.
I've had instances in my own climbing where having the ability with a second system to move just six inches in another direction made my life a whole lot easier. The particular circumstance I'm thinking of is one in which your climbing system gets jambed up hard against a big branch or leader that you need to be able to climb beyond. The rope is falling back over the branch on its way up to the suspension point, and the fact that all of your body weight is crushing it against the leader makes it pretty tough to move the system past the branch. With a second system, I can just pull myself half a foot back away from the leader and keep on progressing easily.
Since I think Robert is probably working by himself, and teaching himself, he can likely make his own work conditions, and operate however he sees fit.
Tim
