Clipless and learning mountain biking

[amandar]

This has nothing to do with what you're asking, but if you're having trouble with standing to climb, it might help you to ride a single speed (with or without platforms) on the road for a while. I'm a newbie with mountain biking too, but thankfully climbing isn't that hard for me, and I think it's all do to the amount of time I spend out of saddle on my road bike.
Of course you can stand to climb on your geared road bike too, but the SS forces you to do it- or walk.
I'm out of the saddle all the time on my road bike, whether geared or ss- over tricky pavement, fighting a headwind (stupid, I know), or going up short steep hills.

Descending is my problem- if only those rocks would get out of my way I'd be golden. And I can't imagine learning with clipless, I'd probably kill myself.