UKC

I would describe myself as a fast competent skier on piste and on any grade of run (in good weather). Most of my off piste skiing has been done on "thin" GS skis which were quite unsuitable and hard work, but that's how we skied dcades ago. I have recently been persuaded to try off piste skis which were a Revelation!

I'm now seeking a second Revelation?

I've become increasingly short sighted and wear prescription lenses including sun glasses for skiing. This is fine until it starts to snow when I find I just can't see. My normal specs fit under my ski goggles with the yellow filter and all is fine until I stop. They then mist up. This is really bad in a cable car or funicular, and it's a real hassel trying to take them off and store them with gloves on, holding skis etc. They eventually start misting up on the slopes mainly from my rising body heat. Wearing a helmet greatly increases the misting problem.

Eventually I get so pissed off at being "blind" that I stop skiing which is turning me into a fair weather skier. I hardly ever fall in good weather but constantly crash when it's snowing because I just can't see the terrain or snow texture and find it impossible to pick a line.

Does anyone else have this problem? What's your solution? (People have suggested contact lenses but I recoil from the idea of putting things into my eyes)

In reply to Trangia:
Probably not what you want to hear but my answer was to give up the skiing and use the money I spent on a fortnight's skiing for six week's climbing in winter sunshine in Spain.

In reply to Trangia:

I wore goggles and specs for almost a full week skiing recently. My goggles started the day steaming, but generally got better by the end of a run or so - I think waiting for your glasses to warm up a bit is important in preventing condensation - I would mostly leave mine on all day for this reason. Are your goggles just not very good? Mine had fabric all the way around, meaning that they were well ventilated, with my glasses sometimes steaming a bit when I stopped, but unfogging quickly when I was moving.
Hope that's some help - I've only done a week on skis so have limited experience to draw from.

In reply to Trangia: Being an Old Fart I sympathise with you but am lucky because I only need glasses for reading.I do have problems with ski goggles misting up and usually ski in sunglasses or if it is dull a pair of safety glasses.I recently saw an old French instructor wearing a pair of goggles that hinged on the head strap and so had air flow on both sides of the lens(I havent explained this very well but I`m sure you get the jist). If anybody knows wher you can get these goggles please let me know.

In reply to Trangia:
You can get prescription ski goggles, if that helps!

In reply to Trangia:

Take up snowboarding and you'll be crashing all the time anyway

As above get some prescription goggles that have dual lenses to stop misting.

Laser eye surgery.

In reply to Trangia:

What isi_o wrote.

Get prescription goggles.

For example:

http://www.rxsport.co.uk/categories/Ski-Goggles/

In reply to deepstar: I think I know these. My dad has a pair. there is just a hinge at the top, on the headband, and the goggles are just an eye visor thing!! He hates goggles and wears specs so these are for emergency snowy days. His are by Cebe,and the lense in yellow, but are a good 10 years old now. However he still uses them so assume he hasnt found anymore. Personally I cant ski in anything but goggles. The wind makes my eyes stream....

In reply to Trangia:
I used to find the concept of contact lenses freaky but a trial at a good opticians convinced me otherwise. Soft disposable lenses really aren't an issue. Persevere for a week. There's really no beating them for sport.

In reply to Trangia:


tbh, I was the same. The only reason I went for a contact lens fitting the first time was because I was convinced there must be some trick to it, you don't really have to get your fingers anywhere near your eye's do you?

I have since spoken to a few people and about half of them thought the same.

It's a feeling that soon goes, and the advantages of contact lenses for sports cannot be over-emphasised.

In reply to Trangia:

As someone who hated contacts a while ago, I have to say, I'm converted now. They won't be anywhere near as good as your normal specs (carry them as a backup) but I find my 95% as good as my specs contacts good enough for most things. Including mountain biking, climbing, mountaineering, running etc etc. It's not that bad putting them in I just found it takes a while to get used to them.

In reply to Will:

That`s the ones,thanks Will,I would like to get a pair but they are probably not made anymore.

In reply to Trangia:
You can get ski helmets with built in visors. You look a bit like a storm trooper in it, but it means you can wear normal glasses under it. I'm not a glasses wearer and never tried one, but my boss thinks hers is wonderful.

In reply to deepstar: you may get lucky. I remember my dad lookin for something every season and eventually stumbled across them in a funny french ski shop ( arent they all) the tackier the shop, the more likely you are of finding something i would say!

In reply to Trangia: try the new helmets with the built in visor .Mrs Farmer was really strugling with flat light and the new visor was fantastic!.Not cheap but worked really well-no fogging with normal glasses underneath.

In reply to Trangia:contacts are the way forward i would have thought.i wear them for mountaibn biking but sometimes get grit in them which can be a pain .if youve got goggles though i wouldnt have thought that would be a problem .try them and see !

In reply to colina: +1 for contact lenses. They're really not as bad as you expect them to be and are by far the most versatile, convenient and probably cheapest option. Handy for climbing too. I often find the rope tries its best to knock off my glasses when seconding or top-roping.

In reply to Trangia:

I would go with the suggestion earlier to get some prescription goggles. These are just a normal pair of goggles which have a pair of glasses inside (normally mounted on the nose piece). If your goggles mist up a lot then Smith make something called a "turbo fan" goggle which has a small battery powered fan to make sure they have enough fresh air going through them. It is about twice as much as a normal google, but a lot of people consider them a "Revelation".

Please note that in a cable car everybody's goggles mist up, as the humidity is just too high. If you wear a helmet (and you should be if you can't see where you are going) then solve this by putting them up on the helmet while you are in the cable car. This does not work if you are wearing a beanie or if you have snow all over the helmet.

Also make sure that you never ever clean the inside of the google lenses as it removes the anti-fog coating which is the only thing that stops them misting up in the first place.

Hope some of this has been helpful, otherwise there's nothing wrong with being a fine weather skier.

Yours,

Neil Newton Taylor

In reply to barney800: barney +1.i would agree barnes glasses do get knocked off when climbing ..sometimes end up looking ike eric morecombe.so its always contacts now when doing any sport. personally use throw away dailies, work out at about £1 a pair .cheap eyesight i reckon.

In reply to Trangia:

http://www.visorvision.co.uk/shop/index.php?cPath=25

Make sure the surface is really really clean before applying.

In reply to Trangia: hiya, I've got the turbofan goggles & they are simply fantastic. They've 2 settings and an off failsafe. On the max setting I've never had them steam up, including for the fact that i ski mainly off piste In the states in v deep powder & am the worlds sweatiest man! Seriously I can't recommend them enough, though can't speak as to cost as they were a present

In reply to Trangia: Man-up, grow some and then go get a contact lens trial

In reply to Trangia: Lots of points here. 1) Soft contact lenses really aren't so hard to wear, and they are the definitive solution. Find a friendly optician who'll put time aside for training and you'll be fine. 2) Goggles really do vary in quality. A really good pair will mist up much less than a cheap pair - but looking after them is key. 3) You can get goggles with lens inserts to correct short sight, I think Adidas and Cebe do them 4) I'm sure you know all this, but the price of clear vision is eternal vigilance, from the start of the day to the finish. Don't take goggles off if there's any doubt that you can take them off without breathing on them, getting tham damp inside etc - you have to handle them like fine china.

In reply to Trangia:

Not what you want to hear, but daily disposable contact lenses have revolutionised my skiing

+ some good quality goggles

My pal has had the lazer treatment op. He says that's the way to go but I can't afford it

In reply to Trangia: hi I have your problem and can't use contacts.

now i can fudge it as my sight isn't dreadful so can ski badly in poor vis just with goggles.

weirdly goggles work for me much better if they are against my head rather than hat. helmets are for people who are scared of their own skiing. In poor weather I find it much easier if I can follow someone so a considerate mate could help you at least survival ski

After good peer reviews I'm going to buy the adidas clip in lense thing.

In reply to Trangia:

Get good goggles, with proper ventilation and that have been designed to work with glassess (eg. Smith something OTG).

The do not take the goggles off when in lift ques or telecabins.

I only get problems with moisture, if I deploy my head-anchor for slowing down... or if I raise the goggles to my helmet etc.

For touring, I generally leave the goggles in the rucksack until I've cooled down a bit after reaching the top.

In reply to Trangia:

Once again thanks to all. I think prescription goggles look the way forward for me.

Someone suggested that a helmet is unessessary unless you are scared of your own skiing. I used to believe that until last year I was hit from behind by a skier out of control. I never saw him and it resulted in one of the worst crashes I've ever had from which I felt lucky to be still in one piece. My head acted as a drag anchor and it took me a good 15 mins to clear the snow out of the goggles and glasses - difficult when snow has also been rammed into your pockets soaking any dry tissues! That converted me to wearing a helmet. I don't like it as much as not wearing one, but the risk of collision on the piste is becoming too high, and deaths and serious injury from head injuries are on the increase.

In reply to Trangia: true but you've got these new amaazing of piste skis...
not seen or been a bad crunch for a while and am considering buying my daughter a baby scrum cap in case head butting radiators becomes a habit.

In reply to Trangia:
The boy uses this on his glasses and it works really well and doesn't seem to have any ill effects on his lenses. You can buy it in Halfords.

http://www.nauticalia.com/uk-info/tools_and_gadgets/cleaning-solutions/muc-...

In reply to Trangia:

Contact lenses??

In reply to Trangia:

My wife wears contacts for sking as glasses and goggles always seem to steam up. (If you have laser op at your age it would merely make you long sighted needing glasses for reading)I find goggles tend to steam up in the wetter weather of our beloved highlands even without glasses underneath. Like most skiers I have had to engage in "white stick" skiing in poor conditions when goggles misted if on and the snow blinded me if off.

As to the comment about helmets: Its good to wear one if on crowded piste or difficult terain. It might save you from a trip ruining experience. It might even save you drooling away your life in some permanent hospital facility along with the mainly male head injury cases. I personally always wear a lid while climbing at least on limestone or while canoing rocky rivers so if I can I apply the same to skiing.

I used to suffer for many years from similar issues (either inside of goggles or in latter years, prescription inserts steaming up too).

I tried all sorts of anti-mist solutions which merely delayed the steaming up since I find that I am working hard (sweating) skiing in fresh snow whilst simultaneously closing jacket zips to stop snow getting in (which doesn't help with getting rid of sweat). Pit zips can help if you don't fall over too often.

What worked for me was:
1) Wearing less when it's snowing (just carry a thin fleece to put on when you stop) - if you are warm when stopped, you will probably be too hot when skiing hard.
2) A decent pair of double glazed goggles with a polarised lens gave the best vision for me when it is snowing (having tried many, many different makes in the shop).
3) The addition of some additional ventilation holes in the thin ventilation foam at the top and bottom of the goggles. I started with about 10 at the top and 10 at the bottom which worked reasonably. I ended up adding a few more (a total of about 25 holes top and bottom) which gives a reasonable airflow through the goggles whilst skiing but it's not enough to make my eyes stream.

This has worked for the last five years for me (even when skiing with a helmet which makes me hotter).