Personally, as far as snow driving or offroading, or any condition where the tires are spinning, i prefer a stick. Reason being, i've had too many automatics actually shift gears because the tires were spinning and the trany just shifted....that's how you get into wrecks. With a stick even if you're goofing off, you control the gears and the throttle so the car is only going to get as out of control as you make or let it.
I used to have a '92 Ranger extended cab....it was the only exception to this rule. For some reason that truck would never shift into 2nd when the tires were spinning, and i could drift that truck in the snow like nobody's business!