It used to be legal to have studded snow tires through the winter. I haven't seen studded snow tires in years, and am not sure they're still legal. I've used chains on my tires, but not for the last 30 years. I have all-season tires on my vehicles. I rarely use 4WD.
I learned to drive in a 2WD '78 GMC pickup that had been swapped from a V6 to a V8, making it tail happy. I don't remember ever getting it stuck, and I never ended up in any ditches. Of course, I wasn't 14, yet, so it was legally a farm vehicle, meaning that I always had a heavy load of something. My rear wheels had plenty of weight on them. My dad told me that, if I got stuck or damaged the truck, I'd have to use a wheelbarrow. Of course, he also told me that, if I spun the tires, he'd take the keys. One day, I was coming around a turn in the snow, with the stock racks on and loaded to the top with firewood, holding my speed around 40MPH, and there was a bit of an incline. I had my hands full keeping the truck from sliding off the road, but I was making forward progress, despite some traction issues. When I got the truck straightened out, I saw my dad's work van behind me. After delivering my load and picking up a load of hay, I got home about the same time as my dad. He didn't say a word. We washed up and went to supper. About halfway through, he asked me if I needed help with that hill, or maybe he should have my older brother take over that task. I said I could handle it. The truck I was driving was an auto with low, but the Dodge my brother was driving was 2WD with 3 on the tree, no low. The next run, the heat in the truck quit working. Later that week, the temp, was 25 below. We sold that truck 2 years later without ever fixing the heater.
When driving the northern route from California to here, some areas required 4WD, chains, and a truck.
Many years ago, when driving up from Texas, we got caught behind the snowplows. The snowplows were plowing the snow (traction) off the ice, so we passed them, just like you did. Driving greatly improved.