Originally posted by Fzanco:

Your gameplay needs to change probably. I haven't had much problem with this, it's much the same. If your having a problem just pickaxe the side of the cliff when you need a rest. Take a different route, sometimes the most direct route isn't really feasible.

problem with the pickax trick is it takes stamina too. so your progress up the hill is going to be slower as you will make less progress with each push.

And sometimes a different route isn't an option. In my current world to get to Moder the only path I could take was up a steep side. The easier path was only accessable from a Prairie on the other side of the mountain that also happened to have a village right at the base and I wasn't geared for it at the time.