How to climb a hill as a beginner
The gearing of your bike seems reasonable, the 26 front/34 rear combination will (eventually) make climbing hills easy. But till then…

Before you do anything else, take @cherouvim's advice and make sure you seat is at a reasonable height. It should be high enough that if you place a heel on the low pedal your leg is almost fully extended (just short of locked). From there you can fiddle around a bit with the height. Ultimately the seat should be as high as you can get it without needing to rock your hips as you pedal. If your seat is too low climbing will be really hard!

The first question I'd ask is what happens when you run out of steam climbing the hill? Are your legs aching and burning or are you breathing really hard? The reason that I ask is that the different answers point to different immediate problems and possible solutions.

If you're legs are burning, it's a good bet that you're not using a low enough gear. In this case, try shifting to a low gear much earlier in the climb, let your feet "spin" on the pedals. You'll slow down, but the climb should be much easier if you do this.

On the other hand, if you're breathing super hard, you may be spinning too fast. It may seem counter-intuitive at first, but it may help to use a slightly higher gear, but I'd still make sure that you're starting the climb in a relatively easy gear.

As other's have said, I don't think it be too long before you notice that you are doing much better on the hill. I live in a relatively hilly part of the US and a similar situation to you. I was out of shape from years of sedentary work and infrequent riding. So the final things I want to suggest are ideas for keeping going until better fitness kicks in (I think we're talking weeks, not months):


Pedaling faster (at a higher cadence) in a low gear is usually easier than pushing harder in a higher gear. There was a good answer a while back that explained nicely how to find a good cadence for you. I'll see if I can find it and link to it.
Choose a strategy for the hill that seems to work for you (really any strategy, just some idea about what you want to try). Having a strategy will make it easier to see if you're making progress and it will also help you identify what to do differently if it feels too hard (e.g., legs really burning? try a lower gear). One idea I'd suggest is to try starting in a lowish, but not your lowest, gear – for me it is very comforting to know I've got a lower gear I can drop down to when the hill gets hard.
Keep track of your progress. Notice where you are on the hill when you "bail out." As you get close to that point on each ride psych yourself up to make it or even make it a bit farther. For me, it is easier to push through burning in my legs than through gasping for breath, so I tend to moderate my climbing so that I can breath easily and tough it out on my legs (but that is me, you might have a different way). The important thing is to have some standard for progress so that you can see you're gains – even before you can make the whole hill.
Practice standing as you climb, you might find it easier to climb standing. For me standing helps on some hills, but I have to start before my legs are too tired and my gear can't be too low. Standing is one of my "escape hatches" when I discover that I'm in too high a gear on a hill. Sometimes it is just fun, but not @andy256's comment below – it is not an efficient way to climb. The energy expenditure is actually higher than when spinning.
My understanding is that working really hard (too the point of exhaustion) a few times a week is necessary to stimulate muscle growth. I don't think you have to work hard for long (just a few minutes), but apparently it is essential.


Two books that I've found really helpful are Just Ride and Eat Bacon, Don't Jog, both by Grant Peterson.