I seem to flip flop back and forth between clipless and flats but I think I have finally found the shoe and flat pedal combo that really works for me. And the good news is the pedal is cheap as all fuck.
Five Ten Freerider VX whatever with the bald patch.
Deity Compound pedals. Doesn't have a ton of pins but the pins it does have are sharp and stick very nicely to the Five Tens. But not too much. Each are fairly light in weight.
I'm climbing technical stuff I could only previously climb with clipless (partly because I'm just getting better at climbing anyway.)
After some painful fails on the clipless this summer I think I have decided, for ye olde mountain biking, I really prefer flats.
Wrong. Always.