Hy and Happy New Year,

In France "cagoule" was introduced by alpinist like "Pierre Alain" who used itin conjunction with a small sleeping bag (elephant foot) in the high mountain (+ candle).

In french, the word "bivouak" has not the meaning of "camping". Bivouac is not a volontary action, it is improvisation.

So in high mountain, alpinist in 1930's could bring a big oiled (not exactly oil but "laque" from China) silk anorak "la cagoule" to protect them from high wind, and in their rucksack they could have "pied d'elephant" for emergency (not too much weight and bulk) along with a candle.

Reference in English : http://www.lums.lancs.ac.uk/news/2003-05-02/

didier.