Winter driving advice requested (Ontario, Canada) Options

[gts4]

Drove in the storm today. With winter tires, I have great grip on the roads except when the snow reaches my bumper. I felt like I almost burned out a new clutch by riding it in order to keep my momentum going. I heard tire slip may pre-maturely wear out the transmission too. Until I get an suv for the winter, how should I handle driving in this weather? Studded tires? Chains? Thanks!

[Galcobar]

Traction is of limited value when you're trying to use your car as a snow plow. The lack of a directional shovel up front means you end up compacting the snow, and eventually attempting to drive through a solid wall of ice. The solution is ground clearance, where you're driving over the barricade instead of fighting it.

Tire slip should not harm the transmission, unless you're allowing it to reach ridiculous RPMs. A tire spinning on a surface with no traction is, from a resistance standpoint, no different than a tire spinning on a rolling surface (e.g. a dyno).