The Salsa Vaya, about $1600 for the "complete" build, also looks nice if you're OK with disc brakes, don't mind the mountain-style straight fork, and are sure you won't ever want to make it a single speed (as it has vertical dropouts). The more I think about snow & ice next winter, the more I think about building disc wheels and moving my Cross Check parts to a Vaya frame.

IMO Surly ought to add disc brake tabs to Cross Check next year -- it shouldn't add much weight or expense and would make the CC even more versatile. Of course as fietsbob mentions, Surly reports to the same corporate bosses as Salsa...