UKC

I finally pulled out my list of notes from my last skiing trip (two weeks ago) with the intention of preparing for the next one. On it, written in large, capital letters, is a reminder to fix or replace my poor photochromatic goggle lenses that were a casualty of the last trip.

We were skiing in-bounds in near-zero visibility, above a little Austrian town called Grän. It was snowing hard and the run to the valley was absolutely grand. We practically had the mountain to ourselves both because so few others were mad enough to be out in that and because we couldn't have seen them if they were.

On one run, I managed to crash hilariously on the very first corner, right at the top, where it's basically flat and nothing is happening on the slope. (I really suck at easy stuff.)

The result was a load of fresh, soft powder up the inside of my goggles. I wiped it out and that, it turns out, is the one thing that one absolutely shouldn't ever do because, apparently, this destroys the anti-fog coating on the inside of the lens. (I learned this, later that very same day, when I overheard a conversation between my brother and a ski-shop expert re. OTG goggles and fogging).

Conclusion: fancy photochromatic lenses (age: 2 seasons) are basically useless, now. They're all fog. I wore them for the next two days and ended up skiing with them mostly on my helmet, pulling them down for the bits where they were rather mandatory.

Is there any way to rescue them or fix my mistake or should I chalk it up to experience and move on?

Double glazed, well vented goggles won’t fog up

wiping the snow out also shouldn’t remove any coating, however use something like shaving foam to re-coat it

I would challenge any manufacturer to design a goggle that doesn't mist up when you're making an effort and getting hot and sweaty in warm humid conditions. Happily for manufacturers most people ski in almost perfectly dry sunny conditions so fogging is less of an issue no matter how bonkers the design.

The story about the coating sounds a bit strange though. If you believe it, go and buy a small pump spray of anti-fog coating from an optician or sports shop before you travel. 

Muc off do an anti-fog spray, which actually seems to work somewhat.

The best stuff though is army surplus gas mask lense anti fog. It works well but can be a little 'smeary'.

What did you rub the snow off off with?

I'd be tempted to polish the lenses with a household wax furniture polish like Pledge or Mr Sheen. It might prevent misting and it will certainly help droplets to bead up and run off. 

I just used the cloth sewn into the pocket of my jacket.

Apparently, the problem occurs when the lens is wet on the inside. Some of the snow melted, instantly, and it was certainly wet at the time.

It's a single lens, not a double. Made by Salomon. Before this, it really did not fog up at all.

For the same pair of goggles, I have a non-photochromatic lens that also doesn't fog up (it still doesn't) and I used it for the rest of my skiing week but I find that it is way too dark for the majority of skiing days -- hence the reason why I bought the extra photochromatic one and now want to try salvage it.

There's your problem, get a decent pair and solve it.

Are you sure it’s a single lens ? Salomon know what they are doing with ski kit and you would have try try pretty hard to buy a single lens ski goggle nowadays, especially a photochromic one which would imply a high end model.

My Oakley double lens goggles have never fogged up yet.

I've used some stuff called fog off. Its supposed to be for motorbike helmets. Seemed to work ok. Have a feeling I got it from Halfords bit can't remember 

I wear goggles over glasses when skiing, and I have found the golden rule is never to (willingly) let a single snow flake in behind the goggles. Also, not getting too warm, so I never wear more than a T-shirt under my ski suit, down to - 20 C; one gets a little cool on the chairlifts but warms up sufficiently on the way down.

Below -28 C, moisture on goggles and glasses gets much more problematical, because it is virtually impossible to wipe the thin layer (a few molecule layers thick?) off before it refreezes; it becomes more like smearing a thin layer of vaseline around. Also, one's breath tends to freeze on the glasses and goggles at these temperatures and below.

  You're a polar bear and I claim my five pounds