I activ awd didn’t kick in
 

I have a 2016 and have never had a problem in the snow. If you use the parking brakes it's possible they froze. Have the dealer look at the car and see if anything needs repair. By the way, your vehicle is always in AWD, I have found it helpful to turn off the traction control in some situations, it can actually work against you trying to get moving in slippery conditions.

I was driving it all day
 

If the system is working correctly you should have at least spun one of the rear wheels - it may be the front and rear differential are open design so one wheel may spin at each axle. The way it is supposed to work: if you have zero traction in the front up to 50% of engine power is forced the the rear axle.
Is it possible that you had one wheel at each axle spinning?.
What I know about AWD systems in general:
- AWD systems are front or rear biased meaning the front or rear gets most of the engine power under normal circumstances.
- CX-5 AWD is definitely front drive biased - but up to 50% of power is sent to the rear using electronic controls when conditions require it
- However, both the front and rear axle differential may be open type differentials so 1 tire at each axle may be getting all the power when you are on ice (zero traction)
- There is no 4WD low option that locks the front and rear together so that some power is provided to both the front and rear axles

You are on to something - or maybe you already read the linked article,
Check out the link: It will help to turn off traction control to get up that super slippery driveway.

This is the first time I read about "turning off traction control" trick. Good to know, will check it out during the next snow.

FYI Mazda's AWD system is 100% FWD until it sense front wheel slip, it then energises a clutch on the rear diff engaging drive to the rear diff & rear wheels.

Part # 6 is the clutch / Coupling unit

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...d619ae2742.png

Part # 6 is the clutch / Coupling unit

I stand corrected on my assumption, interesting.

Hey guys,

A small trick that can be very useful from time to time: if you find yourself stuck in icy conditions and you have a manual parking brake, pull the brake 1 click. Just to engage the brake a little. This will stop the wheel that has no traction at all and it will act as a limited slip diff.
If you have an electric parking brake, you can try the same with the brake pedal, but on a manual car this is very tricky. On my 2012 CX-5 this has saved me already a couple of times, especially when trying to move on an uphill intersection.