Best of luck to your dh, AppleTree!

I ride on ice and snow all winter, but I would never even consider riding on a road I know to be snowy or icy without studded tires. I know it's possible to ride without them, especially on snow if the ground below isn't truly frozen, but I honestly don't understand why anyone would want to. At low speeds I guess you're not risking much, but at regular speeds you can lose control totally, very fast.

It means I have to switch to studded tires quite early, and sometimes end up riding for weeks on end on clear, wet road with no ice, but usually we have enough ice and slippery spots that it's a no-brainer. It's completely possible to fall with studded tires too, as I did just before christmas, from braking and skidding on a very smooth concrete surface. But it was very visible and I knew about it, so if I'd just been thinking it would have been easily avoidable.