After years of riding without studded tires in mountainous places that get real winter, I bought my first pair of studded tires a few weeks ago. Probably won't get to use them that much until next season, but they should make a few of the 10% + road grades around here climbable/descendable when it is icy. I won't be confined to the road then either. Being able to bomb forest roads covered in a few inches of fresh snow over hardpack ice is gonna be a blast. I personally wouldn't choose to do either on 23s.
You know, I lived in Northern Arizona for a few years and rode very technical, rocky, steep trails on my single speed cyclocross bike. Was it possible? Sure. Was it fun? Absolutely. Were lots of other people running tires almost three times wider than mine? Yep. Bikes with more pivot points and suspension doodads than I could shake a stick at were very popular... probably for similar reasons that knobby studded tires are a popular choice in the winter.
I am of the thinking that equipment is no substitute for skills, so the bike handling advantages of learning how to ride the winter on skinny rubber gets a big thumbs up from me... in the end though, Ride what you like. There are no objectively "better" choices.