RubeRad

Totally! I borrowed a Krampus for a few days of test riding, it had bar-ends, and I hooked a branch once and went down! Fortunately wasn't going real fast.

5teve

Aside from personal/fit swaps (bars, grips, saddles, stem length, pedals, etc) I can 2nd (or 5th or 8th) tubeless. It's an amazing improvement in rolling weight and effort, and has basically eliminated punctures as an issue. (I used to get a lot of thorn punctures on my tubed fatty-maybe the snow holds them upright so you're more likely to get one stuck in?) The oval chainring is a great improvement too, I wouldn't do without one now that I've switched all my mountain bikes over. Tires to suit your terrain/conditions is probably a good thing to look at-consider whether you ride mainly groomed or ungroomed trails, whether you ride fat all year or winter only, do you need studs because you hit a lot of ice, etc. I've had great luck with 45North VanHelgas and Wrathchilds on my mainly ungroomed snow rides. The best upgrade I've done lately is going from my trusty 2012 Mukluk to a new Otso Voytek this past season! The lower q-factor has been a real treat for my aging knees. That it is 5 pounds lighter doesn't hurt, either.