[Rover]

I live in Denver...and have for 40 years. I'm an avid skier.....and am on my second RWD 3 series in 10 years. It does fine in the mountains....with WINTER Tires. I've avoided the AWD mostly because of its added complexity (reliability?)...but also because of its added weight and lesser handling performance in summer.

Second if you are an alpine skier ... the roads to the ski areas are very well maintained in winter. But you will still need winter tires for those sudden and heavier snow storms you may encounter going to and from.

With RWD and Winters, know your limits, and try not to do anything crazy....like attacking 2 foot of 'heavy' untracked snow on a lonely road. You could, first of all, get high centered. (you probably already know the difference between our light...and heavy (more moisture) snow).

I agree with the above poster...All Season tires add nothing to a RWD car in winter ...and may even detract a bit from its traction performance in summer.

I've had very good performance on Dunlop Winter Sports....and friends have good luck with Bridgestone Blizzaks.

Finally...AWD. It will have a bit better start from go traction....and 'might' (I don't know for sure) help you a bit more in deep snow, where RWD's might get stuck. But again...the AWD can get high centered as easily as the RWD.