Glasses on the mountain

A snowHead

I have a major issue with my contact lenses and I can’t wear them at the moment. I am flying out to Austria next Saturday and I am having all sorts of stress now about it. I have ordered some more but they aren’t certain to arrive in time.

I have my glasses but I am worried about fogging. I have Oakley Canopy goggles and they never fog but never tried them with my glasses before.

Been reading up about the issue and some people suggest a visor helmet. I need to decide quickly if to order one. So anyone wear glasses on the mountain ? Did a visor helmet help? Any recommendations ?

Thinking of ordering and sending back if my contacts turn up in time.

Help guys and girls

A snowHead

@oafc0000, Do you have a very weird prescription? If not, then why don’t you simply order some contacts that will arrive in time? Vision Direct do next day delivery.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Order some contacts from Daysoft if you have regular type. Should turn up in a couple of days.

I recently couldn't wear my contacts and was teaming glasses with goggles. Worked fine apart from in high moisture/ humidity. Fog on goggles not really an issue only on the glasses themselves but skiing a few metres with goggles up ususally vents that.. Thin flexy wire frame glasses with plastic lenses work best for safety and fit.

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I ski with prescription sunglasses except when it is snowing.

Pani problem

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I usually wear contacts but when skiing I use prescription sunglasses. The weather has to be pretty awful for me to resort to goggles. I generally don't have any problems except when I go into a bar and instantly steam up.
But I agree with foxtrotzulu and order a set of contacts or a month's supply of daily use contacts if only as a back up plan and to remove anxiety

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I have a very complex prescription. Contacts due Wednesday Thursday but no guarantee and no hope of getting them any quicker.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Hi @oafc0000
I never used to wear goggles and I used to think they were a stupid idea.
I never used to wear glasses and my prescription is quite light still.

Here is your answer
a) order a pair of clippons from Amazon this afternoon, you'll b sorted.
b) get a pair of lenses that are mounted to fit inside your goggles.

You may have a job getting b) delivered on time, but the weather may be great, and you wont have to worry about it.

After all it is free

I have rarely had problems wearing my prescription glasses with goggles in terms of fitting or fogging while I've been skiing. The only fogging issues I've had are walking into a warm café from outside. If your goggles don't ventilate well, it can be a problem, but this only tends to be the case with cheap ones.

I have the same problem as the OP - a complex prescription that's simply not just a bit of + here and - there.

The only problem I do have is with my photochromic lenses. Most of the time they work well, but not so much at the end of a bright day when you ski from bright sunshine into deep shade. So I now also take a pair of non-photochromic glasses with me and switch to them if the light is flat or as described.

I don’t have much of a problem with wearing Oakley canopy goggles over my prescription glasses (I struggle with contacts). If I think that they are going to steam up, like coming out of a restaurant I leave the goggles on my helmet until the last moment, so I know there will be some airflow. The only time that I had a problem this year was when working a considerable sweat when poling off piste when there was no airflow. I carry a pair of prescription Oakley sunglasses to substitute for the prescription glasses if the sun comes out ... also good for sitting on sunny terraces.

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If your goggles do not fog without glasses, I suspect that this will also be the case with glasses.

Your glasses however may fog, at least this is the case with me. Suspect this may be down to glasses being closer to your face and having to deal with all the sweat etc, that comes with it. I tried some anti-fog treatment this year, which I was skeptical about having heard a lot of mixed things. I must say however that I was very impressed with the results. You can apply it to your glasses and/or goggles. Personally I used a product called Muc-Off, I am not sure how it compares with other brands but seemed to do the trick for me. It says you only need to apply it every 5 days but I applied it daily just to be safe.

Hope this helps!

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I've used otg goggles, but my glasses still steamed up, in the end I just stopped wearing them. This year I used daillies, much better.

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MrsJ doesn’t like wearing contacts so she simply wears her glasses with the goggles over the top.
I’ve no idea what make her goggles are but they’re pretty big standard and nothing fancy.
It seems to work well for her with no problems.

I ski with glasses and a visor helmet without any problems,

You know it makes sense.

I have found, if my glasses fog up, I just pull the goggles away from my face by a cm for a second or two (turn my head sideways to do this even quicker) and the airflow clears the fogging really quickly.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@jamescollings, +1 works well for me.

A snowHead

@jamescollings, me too - but I'm also careful to avoid the glasses getting too cold. So goggles back on before getting off a gondola or leaving a restaurant, for example.

I wear Oakley Canopy goggles which seem pretty good but you do need to ensure that the airflow they are designed to provide is unobstructed - e.g. by a badly placed or inappropriate hat. (Thanks again to @Lechbob who provided me with a sensible hat to replace the unsuitable one I bought in Tignes at the PSB.)

A snowHead

Prescription inserts. I got mine from spex4less. Work perfectly well.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I have tried most of these:
Daily Contacts - Hated them as I could not always get them out at night, and they would slide up under my eyelid.
OTG - good vision, but misted up easily.
Helmet with Visor - ok if the visor had good airflow, otherwise same issue as OTG
Prescription inserts - Great for skiing. Crap for boarding.

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I usually ski in prescription sunglasses but when the weather is bad have always struggled with goggles over glasses. Didn't want to buy a visor helmet online and have the hassle of sending it back if I didn't like it. However, last week I found a visor helmet in Intersport in France and tried it on the shop, felt good so went for it. Tried it skiing the next day in bad weather and it was fine so hopefully problem solved for years to come.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Thanks for all the replies

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Great news - my contact lenses turned up yesterday just in time Very Happy

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

I find they're best when full of beer Toofy Grin

After all it is free

X@Timberwolf, they are even better when you are emptying the beer down your throat Very Happy

@oafc0000, That’s good. But by way of reassurance I have had to wear glasses for many decades and can’t wear contacts. I climb, ski and cycle, and use Oakley Canopy’s, Bolle Emperor OTGs and some other large volume goggles. They have been more than good - really excellent. It is important to check fit of course since some glasses’ frames can be a bit wide and clonk on the inner lens - both irritating and damaging to the lens coating and surface. But I use some small ‘john lennon’ wireframes and they are perfect. So you have options - try them out with glasses and then have a safety net. Canopy’s are specifically designed for use with glasses and work very effectively.

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I find that I do not need to wear my glasses while actuially skiing. The extra light reduces the apature of the eye and hence increase the depth of field. However, I need to take them with me to read menus etc. When the light gets really bad I just take the goggles off and ski with my glasses which have a UV filter on them. When the light is bad I tend to ski slower so the wind coming around the side of the glasses isn't a problem.

@oafc0000, Have you thought about prescription sunglasses?

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

I tried the "John Lennon" glasses but they made Yoko seem attractive and my music went downhill so I went back to normal specs.

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@No Style, ...yeah...but were you more chilled (man)?....

oafc0000 and johnE - big thing though is preventing damage to eyes. At 3000m even intense clag has a lot of UV coming through - I have trashed my eyes in the Alps only wearing glasses whilst climbing and now really do wear goggles as much as I can at altitude. Not all the time in the Summer - boy I would look a tw=t - but Oct-May I use goggles over glasses all the time. I have much less 'red eye' as a result.

I wear my normal varifocal glasses, with a helmet with visor. Never had a fogging problem.

You know it makes sense.

mrs gazza and I wear bolle visor helmets. They never fog up, are comfortable to wear and its easy to flip the visor up and down as required

They come with 2 x visors, one for bright conditions and one for flat light.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Currently skiing for the first time in spring, and the addition ‘heat’ I am producing over and above what I produce typically in a February has been causing more steaming.
My solution has been to take a penknife to some of the foam of the goggles to ensure constant airflow inside the goggle area. This has solved any fogging I was getting.

My Oakleys must be 15 years old Very Happy

so others with more modern goggles might not feel like performing the same drastic surgery to theirs!!

Help!!

Glasses on the mountain

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