A good sized spade is what I would go with. A good spade is good in soil and sand and moderately effective in snow and ice. It is an all-purpose choice. A snow shovel is best for snow but about useless in hard dirt. Compact field shovels, entrenching tools, are minimalist adventures. Far better than nothing, and perhaps all one can afford to carry in terms of weight and bulk, but even the best of them is pretty poor in function compared to a full sized spade. IMO the Cold Steel version is hugely overpriced for what it is.

I would go for one with a sturdy fiberglass handle and these have gone down in price. Wood handles shovels break because they were shoddy to begin with or deteriorate in time. Test it before you buy, if it breaks in the store you're saving them the embarrassment of a return, then maintain, clean, oil and inspect, it regularly and it will be dependable.

Then again some people are hard on equipment by preference or technique. Not something to brag about or to be proud of. We had a young buck who would break the shovels to keep from digging. We welded up a piece of quarter inch steel to length of two inch pipe and had him dig with that. After a day of having to keep up or be fired, he could barely lift his arms, he treated his equipment with more respect. A valuable lesson.