Originally Posted by
Brian Ratliff
Which way that is preferred depends on how fast you want to get up the hill, and how long you can sustain the pace. The faster you go up the hill, regardless of your cadence or gearing, the more anaerobic you will be.
This. It's simple physics. If you want to haul 150lb up a steep hill, you need more power to do it fast rather than slow. If you can ride up a steep hill in the big ring at a cadence of over eighty rpm for more than a minute or two, do it. Most of us can't, which is what lower gears are for.