We once drove to the top of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. It's a steep toll road operated by a concessionaire. Before you are allowed to do the drive, you must read a guide that says use lower gears on both the uphill and downhill. This is where I learned how to drive mountain roads. It's not unusual to follow cars down the Portal Road with their brakes smelling. You just hope they get to the bottom OK.
On the uphill part, you may notice your transmission constantly shifting between D and 2. This is called gear hunting. Just put it in 2 to eliminate this.
