Is it sacrilege to walk the steeps?
Whenever I see discussions on super low gearing for steep hills (and even Sheldon Brown advocated some amazingly low combos) I revert to my images of spinning madly and barely moving inches upward. I find myself setting a lower limit on gearing because I can get off and walk faster. I originally dismounted on the steeps to avoid back strain. I'm better now but I still get off and walk past folks who are spinning crazily and going nowhere.