I feel your pain. I live in the hills, so almost every solo ride I do involves a climb. But where there's a will, there's a way. Don't feel like you have to choose a bike based on its drivetrain.

There are several upgrade options to provide wider gearing:

Sram and Shimano have gear hubs with 7/8 speeds.
The SRAM Dual Drive: 8- or 9-speed cassette on a 3-speed geared hub.
The Schlumpf Mountain Drive: a two-speed geared bottom bracket (used in conjunction with whatever your bike came with.)
Then there's the Rohloff. Luckily I got mine before the bottom fell out of the dollar, so I only paid a stupid amount of money for it rather than an insane amount.