Mountain Biking - Uphill traction problem

I'm still new at MTB, and I had a problem today climbing some steep hills. A lot of these hills were switchbacks, or they were just curved. They were pretty rugged, too. The surface was loose gravel, some dirt, several roots, and occasional large, flat rocks. Now, I'm pretty good at climbing hills on roads and bike trails, even steep ones. However, the problem I had today was traction vs. balance. I started up these hills in a high gear, sitting and spinning. While doing this, my front wheel would raise up slightly, and I would loose some control of the bike. So, I would stand up and lean forward to put the front wheel back down. And, of course, then my rear wheel would start slipping in the gravel. I almost spilled a couple of times when this happened. I also wore myself out severely standing so much. I had to stop several times along the trail and catch my breath. Dealing with the uphill turns made it impossible for me in certain places. I just couldn't get into a climbing groove where I felt comfortable.

How am I supposed to do this correctly? It seems like I have to constantly balance my weight forwards or backwards depending on the angle of ascent and traction. There has got to be a way of doing this that doesn't just totally blow your anerobic threshold. Like I said, I've never had this problem on a road bike. Although, I'm not a competitive athlete either.


Thanks,
-Matt C.-

as i understand it, standing up uses up a lot more energy, lean forward and into your bike (over the handlebars if necessary) but stay in your saddle, so much so that you effectively "sit" on the tip of the saddle on the steeper climbs.