We may have a consensus. I had the Nobby Nic/Hans Dampf combo on my 26 bike before I went 29er, and it was excellent. The HD has a lot of volume in the 2.35 size.

P.S. The Michelin Wild Race'r (front) and Bonte XR3 (rear) combo I tried was nothing short of heroic the past 2 days. The Michelin seems to hang onto everything in these condisions, and the bonte was easy to slide around through tight stuff.