The key is to learn from others' mistakes. Read my old trip reports and you will learn a lot. Not because I am some winter camping genius, but because I made mistakes that anyone can learn from.

I would rather learn what not to do in the comfort of my living room than freezing my you know what off somewhere in the snow. I read virtually every post here, especially about winter camping. It is well worth the time.

Again, here are my favorite quotes from people who would know-

"Adventure is just bad planning." — Roald Amundsen (1872—1928).

"Having an adventure shows that someone is incompetent, that something has gone wrong. An adventure is interesting enough — in retrospect. Especially to the person who didn't have it." — Vilhjalmur Stefansson, my life with the esquimo.