Cold is a relative term. To Crested Butte, Colo.-natives, the town was experiencing a taste of spring with highs reaching around 39°F. To visitors, the snowcapped pastures 8,900 feet above sea level were cold.

Crested Butte, a former mining town turned skiing and mountain biking destination is cold, but it is not tundra.

Aston Martin On Ice event organizers, three months prior to hosting media and dealers from across the U.S., cleared a 200-acre patch of rolling land used for cattle farming. This allowed the ground to fully freeze. Three months of ice, snow, wind and freezing temperatures weathered the temporary test track, then bulldozers cleared out the snow to make room for a mile-long track complete with hairpin turns, hills, straightaways and slalom courses.

We’re not talking about a parking lot covered in ice. This was designed as the ultimate test for a fleet of Aston Martins, outfitted with Pirelli’s Sottozero range winter tires.

The Aston Martin On Ice program is the first event of its kind the car manufacturer is holding in the U.S. As a partner with Aston Martin, Pirelli’s Sottozero range winter tires were fitted on each Aston Martin. A total of 100 people, ranging from Aston Martin dealers to North American media, would go through the treacherous course over the week and test the limits of the cars and Pirelli’s winter tires.

Aston Martin’s fleet of vehicles include four 2014 Vanquish Coupes, two 2014 Vanquish Volantes, three 2014 DB9s and two 2015 V12 Vantages.

None of these vehicles are all-wheel drive. In fact, Aston Martin prides itself on a rigid chassis and weight distribution methods as ways to provide drivers with better handling in lieu of all-wheel drive. To make things trickier, every single Aston Martin has a V12 engine. That translates to a minimum of 510 HP.

The weight distribution is a result of a front-mounted engine and mid-mounted transaxle, meaning the car’s transmission is behind the driver, allowing a counterweight to the heavy front engine.

That’s interesting engineering, but that alone won’t get the car very far on ice.

“It’s the tire that gives us mobility in these conditions,” said Paul Gerrard, lead instructor at Aston Martin On Ice. “The cars you’re driving are a result of a balanced platform with a great winter tire – there are no other changes to the cars. Weight distribution is great, but the tire makes a massive difference.”

Pirelli’s partnership with Aston Martin equates to 62% of Aston Martin cars coming OE with Pirelli tires. The Aston Martins driven at this event were fitted with Pirelli’s Sottozero range winter tires. The newest addition to the Sottozero line, the Sottozero III became available to the replacement market during the 2013-14 winter season.

The Sottozero III was developed for premium segment cars with a medium to high engine capacity. The tires feature 3D grooves to capture more snow and improve snow-on-snow grip. Traction is also improved due to the enlarged contact patch from the Sottozero II. The shoulder is more rounded and the grooves deeper to expel water. A new tread compound incorporates specialized polymers, which improve the mechanical, thermal and dynamic properties of the rubber. The tire is available for wheels from 16-21 inches in 11 different run-flat sizes.

Training instructors rode as passengers with Aston Martin dealers, Pirelli executives and media, giving instructions on how to best complete each course exercise. Finesse was the instructor’s mantra; finesse around the hairpin turn; finesse to master the skid-pad course.

It’s difficult to have finesse if you’re not completely in control.

Despite the course’s treacherous and slippery conditions – a result of the sun melting the snow, cold temperatures freezing newly melted snow and cars repeatedly driving over the ice, smoothing the course – being completely in control was not an issue thanks to the winter tires and electronic traction control systems on the Aston Martins.

Spinouts occurred on the course, but only when we turned off traction control systems and practiced snow drifting. User-input was to blame for loss of control. The entire time, driving instructors with experience in rally driving, drag racing and Formula One, provided tips on how to correct oversteer, understeer, skidding, etc. Even when these cars lost control, the wheels stuck into the snow and prevented catastrophic wipeouts in the narrow course.

The tires were tested in three exercises: a skid-pad course, a braking and cornering exercise and a slalom-racing course. Then, the tires were put to the test in a mile-long track course that combined each of these exercises. The last exercise of the day was the hourglass – a time-trial exercise that focused on high speed cornering.

Perhaps most telling was the reaction from Paolo Ferrari, chairman and CEO of Pirelli Tire North America: “I know this … I read the reports, the test results. They are safe; they are good. Then you try them and you really understand how good and safe they are.

“We’re driving in the most extreme conditions. The snow and ice, because those are very powerful rear-wheel drive cars, and the tires are very fat – all of this really plays against traction and everything else yet we’re able to make amazing laps on these tires.”

All participants in the Aston Martin On Ice event had the chance to dogsled the day before this event. As far as snow travelling goes, dogs are the real deal. They’re built to withstand freezing temperatures, pull their weight and more, and grip the icy terrain. Back in 2008, Pirelli ran an ad campaign based on that concept.

“Having Pirellis on is like having huskies on,” said Ferrari. “They pull like crazy and don’t slip. Power is nothing without control.”

Ultimately, Pirelli wants drivers to know the benefits of winter tires. The company talked about winter tire laws in Quebec, Canada, and Sweden where an introduction of winter tire laws reduced the total number of accidents by 17% and 11%-14%, respectively. Like Pirelli’s Ferrari said, you really don’t realize that until you try out a set of winter tires.

“Tire dealers need to try winter tires in the most extreme conditions so they can understand how much safer they can be in much more normal conditions,” said Ferrari. “It’s absolutely key.”