Hey Nicole -

I changed both the rear cassette and the front chanin rings on my Sequoia - I have an 11-34 in the back and a 24-38-52 in front - so I have a very wide range of gears, and I use all of them. I used a gear calculator spreadhseet i put togeteh rmyself, and compared all the gear inches by all the variosu combinations of front/back cogs, and this arrangement gives me a very little overlap. I sometimes notice the gaps between gears - like - too hard/too easy, but I know (or I hope!) that will change as I get lighter and stronger.

My bike is actually fairly light, I guess, but since the rider isn't , I think there is nothing more I can do to make hills easier except dropping more weight myself!

I did get new wheels (Mavic Ksyrium) and I love them - I think they made a big difference in stability. Climbing while standing as well as descending feels way, way better than the stock wheels. I also have 700x23 tires, so I guess that helps. But really, just getting gears I could spin in up hills was the main thing. I did need a new XT derailleur for the rear cassette.

Hope this helps!