OK so after waiting for some serious winter weather, it finally arrived to mountains.
After last two weeks of on and off snow in the mountains that finally push base to 35in, we had huge storm last two days. So, yesterday (Friday 01/12/2018) I just could not miss ski day. Over night Arapahoe Basin (where I ski) got 7" and it was still snowing big time when they updated numbers.
I left at 6am, taking HWY24 West since I70 was closed at Eisenhower tunnel for Hazardous truck to use it. They do this when there is big storm that closes Loveland Pass (11,500ft) so trucks with hazardous material have to use Eisenhower tunnel. It is a mess.
Anyway, everything was dry until Fairplay or South Park (South Park, yes cartoon South Park), then over Hoosier Pass toward Breckenridge there was maybe 1-3" of snow depending on area of road. In Breckenridge there was 2-4" of snow on the road and that melt snow, mix of salt and snow. When I passed Keystone toward A-Basin, there was on the road anywhere between 4 and 10" of snow on the road (A-Basin area has very weird climate and a lot of snow. It is like most energy of storm collects there).
Anyway, these XI2 truly impressed me! I was so skeptical about their deep snow performance considering design, but they just plow thru. Now X5 is really not snowplowing vehicle although it is AWD. It is very RWD bias and it is blast to drive in curves, but it is no Audi Q7.
Tires just went thru like nothing. Now, compare to Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V2 I had for previous two winter and they saw everything, literally, Xi2 are just bit less glued in deep snow. It is almost not noticeable. I can feel it, or this might be autosuggestion, but Blizzak's do start at 13/32 and Xi2 at 11.5/32 and Blizzaks have wider channels. However, Xi2 are SO MUCH better in dry and wet, and so much more comfortable that I have no idea how they achieved such performance in snow with that design. I never had a feeling that tires started to "swim." Steering wheel was always there where I wanted it to be, and although rear end of X5 likes to "dance" it was stable. I tried in parking lot in some 18" of powder how it is working, and it just went thru. I stopped for 2-3 minutes for a car to sink, and got out with no sweat whatsoever.
Now, if I would rate DM-V2 to Xi2 in deep snow 1 to 10, I would give one number higher to DM-V2 in deep snow, but again this might be just feeling. However, in wet, dry Xi2 are light years ahead. Xi2 do not feel like winter tire at all. It has same feeling as my Michelin Premier LTX. It has all season feeling. They are bit softer then Premier LTX but I contribute that to the fact that I role Xi2 on 18" wheel and Premier LTX on 19" wheels.
Now, big question is how they perform in real wet snow, slush. So until then, Xi2 are now for me clear choice for SUV's of this class. I feel now bad not going with Xi3 for my wife's Tiguan instead of R2's, but whatever.