Agreed! Though I'm more leaning towards the Michelin and the Hakka R2s over the WS-70 based on this: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=W&VT=C
I spoke with several tire dealers and they said even though Michelin claims 60K kms warranty, that's based on 2/32rd treadwear. All of them recommended to replace Michelin tires at 4/32rd. This means that actual mileage that one could get out of Michelin would be ~45,000 kms and not 60,000 kms as Michelin has guaranteed.
I'm also leaning towards the Michelins or Nokians. It'd be nice to do a little bit of spirited driving the odd time the roads are dry, which is almost never here in the winter. 10% dry, 83% wet, 5% icy, 2% snowy. My Toyo Observe G02+ lasted four seasons, about 40,000km. Actually they still have 7/32nds of tread on them minimum, but I'm done with them.
They weren't that great to begin with brand new and they were marginal this winter.
I wouldn't be taking my car up to any mountains in the winter. As you know, Edmonton's roads are cleared 99% of the time. Therefore, I'm leaning more towards the Michelin as they provide better dry-weather handling than the WS-70.
I was in Edmonton last November for 5 days, you guys had snow on the road the entire time. You guys got such a huge dump of snow when I arrived that they never managed to clear any of the roads. My G02+s embarrassed me a couple of times. ;(
I don't care if I only use winter tires ability 1% of the time, worth every penny when road conditions deteriorate to that level.
I also like being that guy who is unstoppable in the snow. I remember a CRV failing to get up a somewhat steep hill in 2008 when Vancouver got that massive dump of snow and had to pull aside to let my Corolla with Yokohama iceGuard iG20s ascend that hill with absolutely no issues. That guy's Real Time 4WD system sure worked well for him...
The iG20s were great, but it burned through 2/32" of tread in 10,000km, were a bit unpredictable taking turns, and wandered too much on the highway especially at over 115km/h. But they could stop on a dime on snow and ice and accelerated up snow packed hills like they were flat.