Climbing is not so bad. I run cyclocross gearing on my skinny-tire bike, and pretty low gearing on my mountain bike.

Here's the Pugsley. Gearing in this photo is dinglespeed (two side-by-side singlespeed ratios), 31x18 and 24x25. But, nowadays I run 32x18 alone as a true singlespeed.

Here it is with full touring gear for a month in Iceland, with a bit extra than what I'd bring on a solo trip (I carried things like a 4-season 2P tent, and extra tubes/tires so that Kelley could enjoy a slightly lighter bike).



My cross bike, which I plan to do some touring on this summer, is 42x19. I just made a bunch of changes to this bike, including flat handlebars, but it's more or less the same. This isn't full touring gear.