Originally Posted by
cyccommute
Sorry, I'm not buying the "MTBs struggling" thing. I've ridden far too many winters in deep snow to believe that one.
I guess it depends on how deep the snow is. I don't doubt your experience. Here bike lanes get cleared from snow at the same time as the main roads, so you have after a snow storm max. 1-2 days snow on them. Which means sometimes 20cm, sometimes 30-40cm if it was a big one. Believe me or not, I saw the other guy sliding (like on sand, as you say) while I had no problems, and his tyres were 2-3 as wide as mine.
This worked fine for me the last 6 winters in Montreal. But of course I had a few minor falling as well each winter, but this was usually due to ice. I hate broken ice shields, corners and grates 3 cm high where you slip. The closed ice patches are not really the problem as long as you know they are there... Not sure if a wider tyre handles those better, probably only spikes do.