lower gears make steep hill situations a whole lot easier to deal with, even on the street, so that was the root of the problem there.

what i do is throw the parking brake on to hold the vehicle weight on a hill, then let off of it gently as the clutch engages... try to avoid feathering the clutch, using it to hold a couple of tons of truck isn't good for it.

toyotas have that stupid twist-lock parking brake garbage, what's needed is a vw-style lever with a thumb pin for the lock... i've been thinking about trying to adopt one for my 4runner