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Got Vision Problems?

Just Goggle It!

A reference work on "How To" keep your goggles clean and your
vision safe.


When Passing areas of Snow Making: FUNCTIONAL "HOW TO HINT"...

(See also "Emergency goggle de-icing" and simple, effective AndrewEberhard idea posted as replies below.)


If you do pass Snow Guns, do so SLOWLY to prevent airborne snow particles from icing up your goggle lenses.

If you go too quickly through the falling blown snow, your lenses will "run into" the airborne particles, and those particles may or will stick to the lenses. This occurs because your FORWARD velocity is greater than the particles DOWNWARD velocity. There are only 2 ways to remove a film of snow particles stuck to your goggle lenses:

1) Scrape them off. This is a mechanical process that can damage the lens coatings and leave visible scratches that can greatly reduce clear vision through the lens. Another thing that can happen there is that you end up smearing mushy stuff all over the lenses causing blurred, unsafe vision.

2) Go into a warm area, let the lenses thaw out, dry them off according to the instructions provided by the manufacturer*, and head back out. This is the only safe way to protect your goggle lenses, BUT, it takes a lot of time and it will cost you at least 1 run.

(*CAUTION: manufacturers typically have SPECIFIC procedures for lens maintenance. For Example: some OAKLEY products have an inside lens coating that can PERMANENTLY RUINED by wiping with any moist element. Wiping this coating with a moist element will scratch and smear the coating and you will no longer be able to see through it, ever. For that reason, YOU MUST AIR DRY the inside of this lens if it has any dampness/condensation on it, BEFORE dusting/buffing. That particular coating is only mean to be DRY buffed/dusted with a DRY, optical quality lens cleaning cloth. Typically, the OAKLEY storage bag for the Goggles is made of this material, which is a good reason to keep it with you.)

The moral of the story is: If you go SLOWLY around the areas of falling Snow Blowing, you can avoid particles hitting and sticking to your lenses. Basically, when you go slowly enough, the particles DOWNWARD velocity is greater than your FORWARD velocity, so you don't "run into", or get "hit" by them.

It takes only a few seconds to slow down, saves either damage or the need to go in and ultimately is far less hassle.

This is one instance where "eyes in the back of your head" may be required.Watch out and AROUND for traffic in Snow Making areas, because people who may not be as smart as you are, may not be able to see as well and could end up in your path.



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Emergency Goggle lens de-icing.


"...the skiing was great today, but generally applicable, you needed to be prepared to handle a few situations that could "Make or Break" your enjoyment factor today.

One such item was vision.

Goggle lenses were getting covered by both Natural and Snow Making Snow Crystals that were almost impossible to avoid and that goggle lens covering made vision unsafe while wearing said goggles."

What to do...

At the bottom of the lift... remove goggles from helmet and insert into the inside layer of your clothing, just over the stomach area with the lens facing in against the softest inside layer. Zip up your gear with the goggles in this warm area and take lift to top.

On the way up, your warm body heat will thaw the ice coating off the lens and the soft material of your inner layer should wick the moisture away. At the top, remove thawed, dry goggles from inside layer and re-instal on helmet.

Trail-side... Same process, but stand trail-side with goggles installed in thaw zone for aprox. 2 or 3 minutes.

Well, it worked for me a few times today, and what a difference clear vision is! Basically, all you needed to do was use this process on the way up in the Gondola and it didn't even take up any extra time, bonus, clear vision with minimal effort and no time lost. I used the "Trail Side" process as well and it works very well.

Any minor inconvenience in getting goggles off and back on is more than offset by the benefit of clear vision.


Here's another idea up-date to this file... December 6th, 2010.

Use the flat palm of your hand held directly on the frozen lens surface in a
stationary position, held for about 30 seconds. The warmth of your palm will
melt the ice./ You may have a cold hand for a couple of minutes, but
as soon as you're moving again, you'll forget about that...


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Easy way to do this is if your googles get iced over just blow on your googles and then take a rag, kleenex, or napkin and wipe them and the ice will come right off.

AndrewEberhard wrote:Easy way to do this is if your googles get iced over just blow on your googles and then take a rag, kleenex, or napkin and wipe them and the ice will come right off.

Excellent, Simple idea Andrew.

If possible, for maximum lens coating durability, it would probably be good to have one of those special lens cleaning cloths in your jacket pocket for this technique. I'm imagining that such a cloth would have a long "Pocket Life" as opposed to a paper based product that might get bunched up pretty quick, but regardless, Andrew's simple idea of just blowing your own warm air to thaw the goggles quickly is one of those "Light Bulb On" perfect ideas.

Taking Andrews concept one step further, if you have a clean, soft fleece inner layer, you could wipe the thawed lens over that in an emergency if you did not happen to have any other better wiping cloth.

Thanks Andrew. That is the kind of practical, useful solution that makes this topic really helpful.



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