I think she means that while the hills in the west are long, the grade is shallow enough to spin up, although it may be long and arduous. Here, it's like ride up and down rollers, go through flats, climb a hill that goes anywhere from 4-25% for half a mile or mile, go down, and repeat.
I just get in a low gear at the base of the hill, leaving enough cogs to shift down as it gets steeper, in a gradual fashion. Sometimes even the granniest of grannies doesn't feel low enough, so then I slow my cadence and just tick the pedals over, just enough so I don't fall over. This strategy got me through the ten mile climb in Spain, as well as the other 2 category rated climbs on this ride, that were shorter.
I have only walked my bike 3 times. Two involved long-ish (half mile) climbs of well over 20%. One I think I could have done if DH had stayed behind me and coached me up; it was all in my head. The other, no way... when I got to the top, there was another long climb of over a mile with just slightly less steep grades, which I did, but if I hadn't walked the first one, no way. The third one was also in Spain. It was a short stretch of highway, which we did right after lunch, in the blazing sun, at about 100 degrees F. I was nauseous just walking up it. Of the 8 people on the tour, only 3 rode up it.