SNOW NO GO!! Woe, woe is me

This last January I researched and bought some DuraTrac 315/70R/17 x 5. Yeah, some $$



Then I to drive in snow twice, and both times were abysmal failures. (insert long string of explicative here)



In about 1' to 1.5' of snow, I all but got utterly stuck and all of the tread depth was solid compacted snow\ice.



My tires were giant floaty popsicle and pretty worthless.



I still have some ginormous V-BAR chains from the 35' on my Expedition, but my god, these weight 25#s each and take me about an hour and half to put on.



I could buy cables for the streets, but they're still around $135 pr and not rated for the snow on logging roads where I want to be.



I've spoken with folks who make chains and cable, who sell chains and cables, 2 tire stores.



The answer is "spend more money and buy snow tires and they'll kinda work for you"



I just don't understand how some wrangler on a utube video can plow through deep snow and I float.



Do I need narrow tires?



So now I'm angry, and I can't seem to pull together any better solution.



I'm hitting up a couple of forums to see what ideas folks have.