You can travel mountain passes in the winter without putting on chains (most of the time). Regardless of whether you're running winter/snow tires.

In western Washington State everything is on a hill and it feels as if the road is always wet all the time due to rain. Subaru is the most popular car brand in the whole state because it handles these conditions well.

Just the benefit of driving AWD is enough for me. It's hard to go back...

With AWD, the tire requirements when it’s snowing in the mountains are more relaxed compared to 2wd vehicles.

This is a niche problem but I live in Colorado

Mountains.