I think stairs can have a similar effect on strength and speed as hill workouts, but what would the right conversions be?
How many stairs are equivalent to hill meters at a certain grade?
Should it be one stair per step or multiple stairs per step or some combination?
Stairs can substitute for hills if you don’t have hills nearby. They’re not as good though. The motion isn’t as smooth and your stride length will be unnatural (length of each step as opposed to your natural length). I would do as many steps as it takes to simulate your stride length on a hill without risking tripping on the them or overstriding. As for the length, just go based on time. 15, 20, 30, 40 second hills, same for steps. It’s harder to find steps you can climb for 30 or 40 seconds though. For simulating long hills, only option might be to use a treadmill at an incline.
I would say stairs are good but far from the “same” and wouldn’t really have a conversion.
They are good for general athleticism and strength I think but definitely less specific... that said I would think that using time as a conversion would be best... if you were going to do 8 second hill sprit 8 second stair “sprint” seems ok but you could probably extend the could a little bit because you will likely not be able to go all out on a stair sprint.
I would think a few trips up and down the bleachers at your local high school every lap or two around the track would be a decent substitute for a hilly regular run if you don’t have access to a hilly trail.