Replying to Shooting in winter for complete n00b

I bought a DSLR purely for skiing, so I want to make sure I don't do anything to blow it up. So my question is, what precautions do you guys take when going out and taking pics on the mountain? Obviously, extreme temperature changes will cause condensation, so I plan on taking pictures the first half of the day, putting my camera in my car, and then continue to ski.

Other than that, what do you guys do? Also, how safe is it to keep my camera strapped around my neck and zipped up under my jacket? I don't want to have to pack and unpack my camera every 500 ft. With my camera around my neck, I will be simply going down the mountain - no fucking around.

Thanks.