Scott, keep in mind that a true "snow tire" is formulated to work in freezing temperatures and very low lateral acceleration conditions, and despite the open tread pattern, they don't perform as well as an aggressive tread "all season" tire. The traditional "best" non-rally tire seemed to be the Dunlop SP60 (which is sadly no longer available). The original rally-x "rules/guidelines" forbade a tire with greater than 1/4" gaps in the tread which could eliminate some truck tires. Snow tires also tend to include lots of very tiny sipes in the tread to gather up snow and use the snow-on-snow connection for grip. The tiny sipes also give extra edges for gripping ice. On the other hand these same sipes can pack with slippery mud and make wet traction impossible in rally-x conditions. On the other hand, we typically don't run in really muddy conditions (at the request of the land owners).
As a general guide line, just look for an aggressive tread pattern without too many small sipes and with as stiff a side wall as possible (our lateral cornering forces can be pretty high, and the soft sidewalls can be a liability in soft dirt as it can pack into the bead area, especially if you turn the wheel too much and push).
http://tires.about.com/od/understanding_tires/a/Tire-Siping-What-The-Heck-Is-A-Sipe.htm Just in case you are unfamiliar with the term sipe.
Regards,
Charlie G
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