hubbazoot

I was out playing in the snow tonight, and I went to climb a hill, gave it some gas and slipped the tires and then let off once it became evident I wasn't going to make it back up. After this happened, my engine idled at a really low rpm for a little while, kinda chugging, and then stalled. Right before it stalled, there was a high pitch whining noise coming from what sounded like the center console, like behind the stereo. The stereo was not responsible for making the noise. On my second attempt, I was able to drive it back out of there, but I'm a little confused as to what happened. Anyone have any explanation?