Looks like you guys were having a blast! Frozen ground is known to stop many attempts to the top of a hill, but thanks to a winch, everyone will make it. Been there and done that too. Cheers to a good time!!!
If you had a good set of MT's on these jeeps they would walk right through that stuff. Your Jeep is only as good as your tires and you should run MT's in all off road scenarios! Imho