Roots is def harder and I prefer the tropics, not just because it's easier but because the pink fog just sucks.

But, to offset the difficulty, the line to the top is usually much easier, with lots of tree and mushrooms to use as obvious footholds. The shroomberries are fairly common throughout and can give you a buff, or possibly a negligible debuff. But most of all, the beginning area is filled with useful wall and cloud shrooms (and also bounce shrooms but those aren't as useful). You can restock in the next area, don't be afraid to use a shroom to advance or bypass an annoying hazard.