Neither equipment, nor experience, is the entire answer. Knowledge, even without experience or good equipment, is of import too.

It's entirely possible that someone with years of experience might not know the best way to handle a specific situation, or they might not have the proper gear to deal with it, or know the best way to use it.

You can learn a lot at places like this one. You can learn from others experiences, and that counts. It's way easier to learn from others studies, mistakes, and successes, than it is from personal trial and error.

One of the first things I learned here was that my "Snake Bite Kit" was junk. I double checked what I was told here, and sure enough, y'all were right. Quit carrying that.

Lori posted a link just a day or two ago about what to do in a Lightening Storm. OregonMouse reposted it with a gentle urging that we read it. So I did, and it answered some questions I had, reaffirmed what I thought I knew, and provided some very important information that I needed to know, but didn't.

Anyone younger and/or less experienced (skilled) than me that'd read that before this morning would have had more knowledge than me, and that could make the all the difference there is, even if it was their first time out. So, in essence, you can obtain skills with no experience at all.

"You can learn something from anybody if you listen to them."

Someone taught me that long ago, and it's true. It's one of the truest things I've every been taught. Even as I get older, it's still true.

No matter how much experience, how good our gear, how smart we think we are, we can all still learn. From anybody. That's an important thing to remember.