"Wondering if anyone has stories about being brave enough to have camped in these brutal conditions?"

yeah, but not in a tent.  I always camp in the back of my pickup, under the topper.  with a heater to run when I wake up, its doable.  Coldest I ever slept in back was 24 below zero while late season elk hunting.  I do the same for most hunting trips, and for XC ski trips - understand that almost anywhere I go for any activity is going to be 150 to 250 miles one-way from Denver or farther, so it makes sense to camp out and do a two day trip.  I've probably woken up to 10 below at least 50 times.  In the back of a metal truck, its just as cold inside as outside, so first thing I do is start the heater - one of those propane heater/cooker 15000 BTU type - it'll warm up the inside to maybe 45 or 50 in about 10 minutes. (I never run a heater while sleeping, and always have the side windows open a little for ventilation all the time, even when sleeping).  When its real cold, say anywhere from plus 10 and colder, I will often have to preheat my clothes before getting dressed, and always will hold my boots over the heater long enough to warm them, then hold my feet over the heater till they get hot and then put the boots on, and finally do the same with my gloves - if its 10 below before I get up, all of my clothes and boots are 10 below too, so I need to warm them up first.  Then comes the hard part - I cook breakfast out on the tailgate, and if its 0 or colder, or at least if the windchill is that cold, I may have to run the heater and keep it nearby just to be able to warm up and keep my hands from freezing.  If I'm going skiing, or its  miserable windchill, I may have to climb back in the truck and close it up and run the heater again, to warm up enough to start out (otherwise, I'm already nearly frozen) - especially if XC skiing with those little boots.  I almost never cook inside, as it puts too much condensation inside, which freezes and then thaws and drips on me when it warms up.  I "hung" some styrafoam insulation panels near the ceiling of the topper to keep most of the drip off of me, but putting too much heat in isn't a good idea and I don't try to get it hot inside.  A hot tent with a wood heater would be a lot nicer, but I don't want to spend that kind of money when I have my perfectly adequate truck to camp in.