If you have to work outside for prolonged periods then carharts insulated coveralls work well. They are heavy but the keep you warm and they dont shred when you are under a broken rig. Just a few thoughts from my experiences.

I have a Coleman catalytic heater what looks just like the Blue Catz.

 But as far as Winter camping, I mostly dig and sleep in a snowcave now. Military cold weather "pickle" and an ensolite pad and I'm roasty toasty. I live in a little cabin in the Idaho backwoods, so the tent or car gig doesn't do much for me, but digging and sleeping in a snowcave when it's pushing minus digits and I'm toasty warm in a cave is pretty cool. Here's one of my caves I hung out on on Mt. Shasta for 10 days.

You can google an online store called "uncle sams retail outlet". They often have this bag system available in both new and used versions. They also have lots of brand new military equipment at amazing prices. I've personally purchased heavy weight fleece overalls for $9 from USRO that were comperable to some mountain hardware fleece overalls that cost me $300. If you don't mind the black, tan, or grey colors you can get some smoking deals on gear.

Every time I've been stuck helping someone fix a broken rig in the snow the warm drinks made the process survivable. Adventuring shouldn't completely suck.

1) never allow yourself to overheat. I know, I know… overheat in the winter. Yes, and it is a big deal. It is best to dress yourself in layers as others have mentioned (20 years of leading trips has led me to my personal base layer favorite: Under Armor Cold Gear) and then as soon as you may feel that you are getting hot (from exertion, sun, etc) strip off a layer to regulate your temp. Sweating in your clothes, even a little bit,  will create issues with staying warm later. Moisture conducts heat (away from you because you are the one producing heat) 26 times (!) faster than air.

2) to help yourself combat the cold in camp, dress warm in your rig and roll the windows down (or crack them open). Our skin is amazing stuff. And to help our bodies conserve energy (making heat in our bodies takes a lot of energy) our skin constricts our small blood vessels close to the surface of the skin. If you are rolling along in a toasty rig in light clothing and then get to camp and step out into the cold, it will take a few hours before your body adjusts and opens up (dilates) your outermost layer of blood vessels. If they are already in action from being in a bit of a colder rig, then you will find that you are more comfortable in camp and that the cold is not such a shock. An interesting side note to this is that you can see the reverse happen after you have been out in the cold for a few hours or few days. When you come into a house, or back into your rig, you will see that your cheeks are rosy and flush with heat. This is because your blood vessels were dilated outdoors and they will constrict back down now that you are in a toasty place. To compensate for the extra heat we need to produce to keep us warm in cold environments, our calorie burn goes WAY up. Instead of the typical 2000 calories required per day, cold environments require more like 6000 calories a day!

3) use a one liter or larger *non-insulated* water bottle that you are positive will not leak (I like the Nalgene bottles for this purpose) and fill it with hot water right before you go to bed. Slide a sock over the filled bottle completely and put it down at your feet in the sleeping bag. Ahhhhh… warm toasty heater next to your feet all night long. 🙂

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