I bought ContiWinterContacts, and mounted them on my current rims. I only plan on dealing with snow for another few years so $100 a year to mount and demount them is fine with me.
My car does fine up hills, there is a 12%+ grade hill in front of my house. My car does just fine even during snow storms when all the cheap SUV drivers that didn't get snow tires are trying to push there cars up the hill (I have actually seen a few idiots trying to do this.). It really suprised me when I moved to a snowy area how few people buy snow tires and how much higher the accident ration is compared to Southern California.
