What Brent is saying is meritorious. Only in "shallow" snow. Any thing over 1 foot (in an Xterra), I would DEFINITELY air down. Airing up and using narrow tires is a great way to get grip at the bottom, on the hardpack, close to the ground. An acquaintance of mine has a lifted Jeep with 33x9.50's mudders on it. He doesn't air down. That thing is an absolute BEAST in the snow. I've driven military Hummers through 2++ feet of snow, with high pressure (and 38" tires) with no problems. Hard packed areas like this picture(below) get so rutted that an aired down vehicle may not clear the pumpkin:
And if you don't(clear the pumpkin), it'll be stuck on solid ice!
For the "soupy" conditions that I frequently encounter, however, seem much easier to negotiate with low pressure. I've actually gotten stuck in a snow drift and had to be pulled out. After airing down, I drove right through it. From my experience in the large volume of snow that we get in the mountains here, I think, as a general rule, airing down is the way to go.
Watch out, though. The depth of snow is very difficult to judge. It's very easy to get stuck and very time-consuming to dig yourself out. I always carry blankets and sleeping bags "just in case".
The good news is, it is less of a tug to get out of snow than mud. Don't travel alone. If you absolutely must, then a porta-winch ($50-$70 at pepboys or harbor freight) might just save the day. Those little 1500# winches hook up to the trailer hitch or a tow hook and can pull you out of minor snowdrifts. Hopefully you're not going to try to drive through major ones......
Good luck!
Bring these items:
Appropriate clothing and footwear for hiking wherever it is you plan to drive.
At least 2 pairs of gloves.
Sleeping bags & blankets. (6 people died of exposure in Colorado Springs' last major blizzard; blankets may have saved their lives.)
http://ccc.atmos.colostate.edu/~odie/climsum/oct97.html
Full-size spade shovel.
Army entrenching tool (folding shovel).
Tools.
Porta winch.
Hi-lift jack. (needs sliders or metal bumper to be used)
At least 2 pairs of gloves.
GPS
Cell phone (you'd be amazed where you can get a signal)
Some links:
Matterhorn Boots WOW! 3000# porta-winch E-tool
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