Bummer man...glad no one was hurt and the damage was minimal considering. Pretty hilarious that a couple of your passengers bailed.

Next time if you have to consider putting chains on, putting the case in Lo, or locking it....you should probably DO IT. Overkill is a good thing sometimes. But then again, hindsight is 20/20.

And lastly....learn how to drive your daggum truck in the snow, you're making Rovers look bad!....JK

 

all world drive probably won't work on any iced road...

 

Definitely CDL.
When your front or rear wheels lost traction all power when to them and you had nothing going to the other axle. At that point you effectively had 1 wheel drive.

Hi range would probably have been ok, but you'd want to stay in 2nd probably.
Soon as you get wheel spin and the engine revs pick up the gearbox shifts which exacerbates the problem. You don't want it shifting in dicey situations like that.

 

Yes, mount a camera to the dash.

 

Sliding backwards out of control can be real scary that's for sure. Better tires, chains and diff lock would be great no doubt and I'd go with high range since I think some good wheel spin can be helpful in keeping you moving forward. Plus once you're sliding out of control, low range can have almost too much engine braking so you lose steering. Most people panic when sliding, hit the brakes and hope for the best, but then you will really be out of control. I probably would have put it in reverse, don't touch the gas or brakes and try to steer my way back down the road. Engine braking should slow you down and you may still be able to steer. You would maybe even have to give it a little gas to get it pointed in the right direction, as long as you have a place to keep the truck going of course. The best think is to have a place to spin the truck around (preferable right before you start sliding back), shift to first gear and let it coast back down the hill (that may have been impossible in your situation). We just got like a foot of snow here the last 24 hrs and I had to shift to first gear numerous times when coming to a stop and going down a wicked steep hill (which is why I prefer a manual in the winter - you can almost stop without touching the brakes).