Climbing techique with panniers and cleats In the last year I started using cleats (2 bolts SPD) on my touring bike, which I often use with rear panniers on biking holiday (travelled about 2000 km with this set up). 

The struggle I have is when cycling on a steep climb: in certain cases, when I am already using the shortest gears, I have to trade off between two opposite necessities:


if I push harder without standing on the pedals I end up lifting my front wheel
if I don't push harder I go too slow to keep a decent equilibrium


Until I used clip less pedals I could easily put my foot on the ground in case of necessity, but now the concern of having locked feet adds another source of uncertainty. 

I have tried releasing one foot during the climb, but it goes without saying that pedaling gets way more clumsy.

What is a good technique to climb steep road with cleats and back panniers?
One thing that may help a lot is shifting some load weight forwards.  In other situations I've found that a surprisingly small amount of weight shifted from behind the back axle to the front forks improves handling a lot.  For example rather than mounting a D lock behind a child seat, I put it on the front forks. That's something like 1% of the total weight, or 4% of the non-rider weight.  

This may lead to a bar bag, bar/fork-mounted bottle holders, or front panniers, though I'm trying to avoid the latter (as it seems are you).

Even loading differently within the panniers might make a difference.