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@Ced
I had a gary fisher mtb with genesis geometry (short chainstays, long top tube, short stem). It claimed that it improves climbing and descending.
It's true in wet/slippery conditions and this is why: Your weight is distributed more on your backwheel, and grip(friction) is a result of force (weight) x friction coeficient (nature of the materials in contact).
However your moment of inertia is decreased (perpendicular distance squared x mass) hence more prone to wheelie and fall backwards.
so if you've got an extremely steep hill that's dry: get long chainstay and a steep seat tube, if you've got very slippery hills, get short chainstays or a layback seatpost.