I crossed the Sierras in a heavy snowstorm. I had to put chains on and convoy behind a plow. I’ve made it through unplowed dirt roads in the Angeles National Forest.
I had a rwd/2wd 92 Toyota p-up 4cyl standard cab (very small truck) that once I threw some weight in the bed, I went in the snow and ice about anywhere I wanted to go, and it is all hills and curves here, same thing with my 99 rwd Dakota ext cab, I would line the bottom of the bed with regular old house building cinder blocks (not stacked) and go anywhere I wanted to go, and I love driving in snow…
Now I will admit, I kept the new truck in the garage last snow(s) we got, but mainly cause I didn’t want people thinking it was a big red target… lol
My personal experience in the realm set by the OP is a '94 Ford Ranger, '07 Toyota Tacoma and now a '15 Subaru Forester. Both trucks were 2WD and as many have said with good tires and some weight in the back I never had a problem in Northeast winters. If a truck is the answer, LSD would also be prefereable. Both trucks were undone by frame rust, the Ford in half the time of the Tacoma. The Ford was the better teaching tool: Nothing much went wrong with the Tacoma. Another advantage of a compact truck is the space to work in the engine bay.
Given that the OP doesn’t set a budget and seems to lean toward an SUV, I could recommend Subaru with qualifications. My Forester is certainly routine maintenance friendly. My guess is that AWD has fewer issues than on-demand 4WD. The biggest issue with the Subaru is adjusting to the boxer engine design. Much of what will be learned doing engine work will not be directly transferable.
To my mind the biggest difference between a small truck or SUV is the cargo capacity, not just in weight but size. The Forester takes care of about 90% of my payload needs, but I do miss an open bed when I come across that 10%.