Don't know how old or experienced you are, but I'm certainly very experienced, and, well, at 58, old. Point being, I've been at the racing game since my teens and have owned too many frames to even recall (at my age...), and from a purely anecdotal perspective can emphatically state that stiffer frames are more responsive and climb better, period. Maybe all that twisting in softer frames is eventually returned as you state, but from a practical standpoint it isn't returned instantly enough to enable me to jump as quickly as the guy next to me on the stiffer rig.