66 yo female road bike rider needs advice on THE BEST CLIMBING components/groupsets available! I'm a  66 year old  female rider with a heart condition on a Waterford road bike, currently using Shimano Ultegra 6703 Triple 10 sp chainset-170mm 52-39-30T and find that since I've moved to the Smokies, it isn't enough. I love riding and don't mind changing out ALL of my components if necessary in order to climb without stressing my heart. Would it make sense to swap it all out for mountain bike gearing? Move to SRAM components? Other???I LOVE cycling...but want THE lightest and easiest climbing components available. Please help!!!
Also consider some help from an ebike motor.  It may not be fully to your preference, but the small push on the steepest bits will help save your knees and your heart.

This may go against the "purity" ethos that some cyclists value, but at the end of the day its all about riding.

There are retrofit wheel kits for existing bikes, or a bolt-on mid drive, or a much more subtle bottom bracket booster like that woman used in the CX competition (apparently by mistake)

A higher end solution would be to get an electric road bike where the motor is integrated into the frame at the bottom bracket, and batteries are stored in the downtube rather than bolted onto your water bottle mounts or out the back on a parcel rack.  But that's much more cost.