OCT 93 A TOASTY SACK FOR YOUR TYKE Plus a warm-when-wet bag for you Baby Bag Snowsuit/Sleeper Something has happened to about half my partnered friends. One day they're an ordinary outdoor couple---backpacking on holidays, climbing on weekends, canoeing in summer. Next time I see them, they're parents. According to the myth, parenthood means they've got to trade in the tent for a house in the 'burbs, the VW bus for a minivan, and mountains for TV. But I'm one of those new parents, and I can tell you that the myth is just that. You can still do outdoor things, just take baby along, but dress her appropriately. The best outdoor clothing I've found for kids age two weeks to two years comes from the Baby Bag Co. The flagship product is an ingenious little snowsuit from which the company gets its name. The Baby Bag is essentially a minimummy with legs. The top opening closes with a drawcord, a zipper runs down the front of the suit, and two legs form the bottom. Just slide your tyke in, zip her up, and snug the drawcord around her face. Her arms stay inside, dramatically increasing the heat retention. The bag is insulated with Lite Loft synthetic fill shelled with Supplex nylon and lined with nylon taffeta. If your child is as rambunctious as mine, by about eight months she won't take kindly to having her arms stuck inside the bag. At that point, try the Baby Bag bunting jacket and "helmet." This Polartec 300 fleece jacket sports adult-jacket features (drawcord hood, full front zipper, and storm flap), plus unique roll-over mitten sleeves---a revolutionary design innovation. The "helmet" is a Polartec 300 bomber cap shelled with Supplex nylon that closes with velcro under the chin. Putting on the jacket and cap, then cinching the Baby Bag just under the armpits neatly solves the problem of kids who simply must flail their arms. All three items come in an array of kid-bright colors. Because the Baby Bag is so much like a sleeping bag, it's terrific for keeping the little one warm while toting her in a backpack baby carrier. It's not intended to be used as a sleeping bag, but it works fine in moderate conditions. We took my little gal winter camping when she was only two months old, and she slept toasty warm in her Baby Bag tucked inside our doubled down mummies. So trade in the 1950s-parent myth for the right gear, and get back to the great outdoors. ---Mark Jenkins Baby Bags come in three sizes: small (newborn to 5 months), $52; medium (3 to 12 months), $55; and large (6 to 24 months), $59. Baby Bag bunting jacket, $46 to $48; helmet, $21. Contact: The Baby Bag Co., P.O. Box 566, Cumberland Center, ME 04021; (800) 866-2247. . The North Face Cat's Meow Bag The North Face's venerable Cat's Meow could be called the VW Beetle of sleeping bags. Like the VW, this best-selling 20F mummy was inexpensive, unpretentious, and practical. The Beetle was put out to automotive pasture several years back, and this season, after a 15-year run of the model, so was the original Cat's Meow. The North Face (TNF) recently turned its Cat into a whole new bag. Well, not exactly a whole new bag---the new version looks outwardly unchanged---but it now packs its predecessor's admirable qualities into a lighter, more stuffable package. The old Cat's Meow was one of the most durable synthetic-filled bags ever; our Midwest editor still uses the one he bought 14 years ago. The bag's Polarguard continuous-filament polyester fill retains its loft longer than many synfills made of shorter fibers. Polarguard stays relatively warm when wet, and stubbornly resists breaking down under hard use. Trouble is, it also stubbornly resists being stuffed into a pack. The new Cat's Meow HV is filled with Polarguard HV (High Void), which its maker, Hoechst-Celanese, says is 20 percent lighter and more compressible because of hollowed-out fibers. The ballyhoo surrounding HV's introduction, which we fueled by making HV an Editor's Choice product this year ("Best New Gear For '93," April), raised expectations sky-high. After a season with a new Cat's Meow HV test bag, I can say it is lighter, but not by 20 percent. The new model weighs about 8 ounces less than the original. The HV Cat stuffs smaller, though not as compactly as an equivalent Lite Loft or Primaloft bag. Warmth-wise, the new 20 degrees F rated bag seems fine. I slept in my drafty ski cabin several nights when temps dropped to 10 degrees F or 15 degrees F inside, and I stayed cozy enough that I didn't stoke the stove until morning. The HV insulation works impressively well in wet weather, too. I took my new HV Cat kayaking down Oregon's Rogue River. The first two nights it rained hard enough to drowned out the river noise, followed by two nights of the heaviest dew I've ever seen. Yes, the bag got drenched, and yes, I slept warmer than expected, even in a soaked bag and bivy sack under the stars. When the sun finally emerged, the bag dried out nicely while hanging from a tree or flopped over a sun-warmed boulder. The durability question seems less easily quantified. After a year's use and several washings, the new HV Cat and another HV bag we're testing seem to be holding their loft better than Lite Loft or Primaloft, but may be a touch less durable than original Polarguard. Though the jury is still out on HV's long-term durability, the stuff looks quite promising. ---Dave Getchell A Cat's Meow in size long weighs 3 pounds, 8 ounces. The sleeping bag costs about $149 in size regular, and about $159 in size long. Contact: The North Face, 999 Harrison St., Berkeley, CA 94710; (510) 527-9700. Sierra Designs Gust Buster Jacket Last winter, icy 40-mph winds ripped through my normally balmy eastern Oregon hometown, dumping mountains of snow and freezing pipes solid. While my neighbors headed for cover and locked their doors, I went out for long walks in the wild weather. The blustery, bone-chilling winds were a great initial trial for my new Sierra Designs Gust Buster windproof fleece jacket. The Gust Buster typifies a number of new garments made from Polartec 1000 windproof fleece, which sandwiches a windproof/breatheable laminate between two layers of polyester fleece. Windproof fleece has become, literally and figuratively, one of the hot new fabrics on the outdoor scene. Its backers tout it as an all-purpose outerwear material that combines the proven comfort of fleece with the windproofness of a shell. Later in the winter, I wore the Gust Buster backcountry skiing in the Cascades and cycling along Oregon's wind-ripped coastline. The windproof fleece did bust the gusts most of the time, but beyond about 35 mph (enough velocity to make walking difficult) wind managed to sneak through. Even so, the Gust Buster is an excellent, multifunctional piece of outerwear. "Wind-resistant" would really be a more accurate name for the material. And you lose the sense of fleece as a cozy, stuffable layering piece because the laminate makes Polartec 1000 feel a little "boardy" and less packable. Malden Mills, maker of the Polartec 1000 fabric, says their tests showed no wind coming through the fabric up to 25 mph. They say gusts stronger than that don't go through the fabric itself, but rather through chinks in the garments, like zippers or the neck opening. Given the Gust Buster front zipper's ample draft flap and overflap, these statements leave me wondering if there needs to be a uniform definition of just what constitutes "windproof." Although the Gust Buster kept me warm when I walked around town, I found it sometimes too toasty for more high-energy activities. But over a single light underlayer it worked great for cross-country skiing, and the pit zips helped ventilation quite a bit. The fabric exhibited impressive water-repellency by shedding drizzle and wet snow even after several trips through the washing machine. Overall, I'd say that Polartec 1000 fleece in general, and the Gust Buster in particular, perform well. The material is warm and reasonably wind-resistant, and the free-moving, toasty Gust Buster makes a welcome addition to my clothing lineup. But when I head for serious backcountry, I'll still be taking my regular fully weatherproof shell. ---John Knowlton The Gust Buster costs about $180, and comes in unisex sizes XS-XL. Contact: Sierra Designs 2039 Fourth St., Berkeley, CA 94710; (510) 843-0923..