So I'm potentially thinking about getting a hardtail MTB however I am finding it hard to justify. My current bike is a Giant Toughroad and will fit up to 50mm wide tires which is wide for a gravel bike but narrow for a MTB. The only reason I would want a dedicated MTB is for winter riding and for more steep + technical trails. The issue is those two scenarios are scarce for me, however the snow part is more common for where I live.

I tried out a few bikes from Salsa: the Fargo, Timberjack, and Beargrease. The Fargo had 29 x 2.6" Tires that I got to try out in the typical snowy conditions that I experience here, and I can say that the 2.6" tires performed remarkably better than my 45mm and 50mm tires, and I think that would be a good balance for what I want to do with my bike. The Timberjack had the same size tires as the Fargo, although they were definitely more trail oriented, and the Beargrease's 27.5 x 3.8 tires felt pretty overwhelming to ride with when I did my short test ride. Unfortunately I wasn't able to ride those two in snow.

So summary I guess: I want to get a MTB that can run 29 x 2.6" tires, however it would only see limited use due to availability of trails to ride and snow which'll make it hard to use my gravel bike. Due to this limited use case, I'd be looking to spend around $1000 or less on a complete bike. There doesn't seem to be mant 29ers in this price range that will fit those tires from what I'm finding, however there seems to be better priced options in 27+, but will I be losing out that much in therms of traction compared to a 29 x 2.6"?

Advice/Options?