Tips on making it up steep section of hill?

[indysteel]

Out of curiosity, are you using clipless pedals? I know that when I'm struggling up a steep climb, being attached to my pedals really helps me turn the pedals over.

[fallstoclimb]

I am using clipless. I think that both helps (with turning) and hurts (mentally I feel like I can't catch myself if the bike starts tipping -- although realistically I know I can tear out of those pedals pretty quickly when I need to).

[Crankin]

I think my response was a little flip and unclear at the beginning of this thread.
I just want to emphasize that having low gears helps tremendously and at my age I don't really care what people think of that. I always use the lowest gear I can, to feel comfortable. For example, on the ride I was leading Saturday, I had the chance to observe, as the sweep, what others do. What I saw was a lot of standing, painful looking mashing, zig zagging, sitting down in defeat and barely making it up the hill, which was not even that bad, in my opinion. I, on the other hand, had my triple in the granny and in the seond lowest gear on the back. I passed both of these riders with ease, and I was going at a nice pace for a hill. These riders were young and fit, so I ascribe it to technique. From what I see, people think it means thy're a wimp if they shift down. Sometimes I hear, "but I hate to shift."
As SheFly stated, I have seen 2.5 or 3.0 (in the Berkshires and in Spain) and I never felt like I was going to tip over. Just felt like the damn hill was never going to end.

[ny biker]

I have asthma and riding up steep hills can be a trigger for me. I've found it best to slow my cadence way down while riding in the lowest gear on my bike. I routinely slow to ~3 mph when climbing steep hills. Haven't fallen yet. Just keep pedaling.

I recently did a big club ride, a metric century, that had a steep hill near the end. I rode the entire route with a 70-year-old who rides almost every day including long rides on weekends (Saturday AND Sunday). He rides a touring bike, definitely not what most would consider ideal for climbing. He and I slowly pedaled up the hill. It wasn't easy but neither of us was ever in doubt that we would make it. At the end of the ride we learned that some of the A-level riders had walked up that hill. Tortoises > hares.