Ah man, I wish I'd known this was coming. My camp kitchen just shipped yesterday and I would have really preferred the aluminum version. Oh well. I'm sure I'll still enjoy the older version.
I'm here in Denver as well, and I was driving last night in the snow. I have the R1T. I used snow mode and was easy on the pedals, and my truck seemed to handle it well. I'm on the stock 20".
I feel like snow mode changes the throttle response, but I'm not sure.
I hope your experience improves...