The older tight-ratio freewheels probably had 6, maybe 7 gears. Nowadays, with 10+ gears, a wider ratio doesn't typically translate into huge jumps from cog to cog. Also, mashing has gone out of style. Look at pro races from the 70s -- those guys were mashing up hills regularly. Now, pros spin up hills except for the truly steep ones (like the 20% grades on some Giro climbs or something like that).