UKC

Has anyone considered belay goggles, combining the concept of belay glasses to avoid neck strain and goggles for use in blizzards.

I think this could be a valuable niche market for scottish winter climbing.

In reply to Brown:

I have now. How would you stop snow build up on them? How would you see the climber when they turn a corner or go over an overhang? Would you have to bend over to see straight ahead when you need to use the goggles in driving snow?

How about a belay drone going to Google glasses?

In reply to jonnie3430:

I was picturing something similar to varifocal glasses. The upper half of the goggles shows up, the lower half shows straight ahead.

In reply to Brown:

They'd need to come with built-in windscreen wipers to clear the spindrift.

In reply to David Barlow:

The spindrift issue would be no worse than normal use of goggles. Possibly they should be rose tinted as well to make the world look more attractive.

In reply to Brown:

Have you looked at the smartphone intercom apps? I have one that connects on WiFi or Bluetooth to another phone, the microphone is voice activated. I haven't used it in winter but it could be worth having a look at?

In reply to jonnie3430:

I have never seen this, what is the practical range of Bluetooth? I would imagine it would be pretty poor if you were out of line of site.

It would be good for motorbikes

In reply to jonnie3430:

You could even stream the belay drone images: One poor belay bunny gets buried by spindrift or whacked by dinerplates for real, everybody else plays with their brand new Extreme Indoor Winter Belay controller for their playstation.

Could be the one thing even more idiotic than Wii boxing!

CB

In reply to Mr Trebus:


Dunno, haven't tried, worth a look?


That's what I have it for, just need to figure out how to get the microphone from my headphones into the helmet.... Trying to avoid those add on microphones and speakers for my helmet.

In reply to cb294:

If you tethered the drone to the lead climber and had a speaker on it you'd be able to offer all sorts of useful advice! "Your feet aren't level," it looks like that crack may have gear if you dig it out, " "there's a good hook a wee bit higher" "that ice looks rubbish," "you know you haven't gear and the belay is rubbish...."

Endless fun, it'd be like climbing as a three.

In reply to Brown:

Sounds like these'd be better for euro-ice. Surely in Scotland you just hunker down into your collar feeling sorry for yourself, and pay out the rope as it crawls slowly upwards wondering why your leader doesn't get a chuffing shift-on.

In reply to Brown:

In the 1970's a clear visor was invented to clip to your helmet.

Brilliant idea.

Trouble was it got covered in water/snow/ice and everything else Scotland threw at it.

Perhaps thats why they don't sell them?. (OK so some smart alec is going to post a visor that fits onto safety helmets but they are not quite the same)

In reply to Dave Perry:

Grivel still do one for the Salamander. I like mine for ice climbing but I tend not to carry it for Scottish winter for the reason you mention (and I look like a tit with it!)

In reply to Dave Perry:

http://www.facewest.co.uk/Petzl-Vizion.html

In reply to Dave Perry:

I use a petzl vizion and it's great. I did a winter ml training in howling conditions last year and it was much better than goggles, though I had to wear my helmet, which made my hood fit better.

In reply to Brown:

OK so they still exist and the link to the climbing one looked good. £39 ?? I love the idea but I can see this being bunged in the sack to wait for one of those days when you just need it. But then when you drag it out of your bag it;'ll be scratched, marked twisted and covered in dirt. Maybe?

In reply to Brown:


I have, and the current model is based on a nice drone, and fatshark goggles ( http://www.fatshark.com/product/1722.html )

The only development thing is that I need both hands to control the drone. But with scottish winter climbing, that's not really a problem as none of the gear would hold anyway.

In reply to Dave Perry:

I just bought another from Germany, strong pound and all that, £26. It goes on my helmet at the start of the season and off at the end, it folds back into a fairly bulkless position on top of the helmet for the bag, goes to the visor when the helmet is on that stops stuff being dropped from above, but doesn't get in front of the eyes, and comes down over the eyes if I worried about tools pulling, miserable weather, swirling spindrift, etc.

I damaged both eyes a few years back, one was chipping a bit of ice into an eye on an ice route so I am a bit cautious now.

In reply to Dave Perry:
Second Petzl Vizion, much less foggy than even the best goggles (I have tried quite a few) and goes some way to saving your face when your tools ping off. I keep my helmet in a mesh bag to keep scratches down. Yes expensive for a bit of plastic, but it actually works.

As for the idea of belay specs style prisms, I can't see the leader most of the time anyway so not sure of the merit.

In reply to jonnie3430:

Always good to have reminders to look after our eyes posted, you never quite know from where the injury will come.