I can think of some long ascents I like, too. It's a very pleasurable feeling when your gear and your watts perfectly match your climb.
I'm a very strong rider and also live in big hills.
I still like having gears below 30", because it's a 400' climb with a couple of spots at 14% grade to get home.

There were a couple of guys on a group ride yesterday who said my Raleigh was a really nice cruiser. I smiled, explained I bought it new in college, then smoked them up the final 3-mile climb.



This gearset has half-step big rings which split the steps on the wide-7 rear, and a 26T granny. The full range is 22" to 104" in 5" steps.