Bear Valley: I Can't See!

Someone asked me the other day how they could keep their goggles from fogging, especially while wearing a facemask. This is a problem that skiers and snowboarders have been battling since goggles were invented and there are a number of very good solutions to be found.

First-off, be sure you have a pair of goggles that have a dual-pane lens. This is the essential feature to a non-fog goggle. Think of a glass of ice tea on a hot day. The warm air surrounding the cold glass causes moisture to condense on the glass. Well, the exact same thing can happen with your goggles. The outside air will keep your lens cold while your body heat will warm the air inside your goggles. As you can imagine, this situation will lead to fogging. Now, with a dual-pane lens, the outside lens will stay cold and the inside lens will stay warm while the "dead air" barrier between the two will keep both of them from fogging-up. The next step in the battle against fogging goggles is the anti-fog treatment on the inner lens. There are two basic kinds of anti-fog treatments and while I won't get into the science of it here they both act similarly to windshield wax for your car. They won't allow any water to "stick" to your lens.

Technology can only go so far in the battle against fogging goggles, there needs to be some proactive help from the goggle users as well. The number one thing you can do to prevent goggle fogging is to put them on in the lodge and then once you get out on the hill, NEVER TAKE THEM OFF! Maintaining a seal on your face will insure that your dual-pane lenses are doing what they are supposed to be doing. Of course, skiing and snowboarding are action sports with many perils associated with them. Often times you can't avoid your goggles coming off on their own. When this happens, your best bet is to head into the lodge and eat ten minutes of your day to dry them off. Fighting that fight out on the hill is an uphill battle at best. Aside from taking lessons to help prevent the situations that lead to premature goggle ejection, consider that helmets will not only protect your noggin' but provide a secure point of attachment for your goggles.

As you may (or may not) have noticed goggles come in all shapes and sizes. Some of this is intended for fashion reasons but there are actually some performance benefits as well. I get a lot of people in the shop that want the smallest goggles they can get. What these people don't realize is that the volume of the goggle (the amount of air trapped between your face and your lens) plays a huge role in how easily it fogs up. A higher volume goggle is much less likely to fog up on you than a low volume goggle is. Higher end goggles can get away with smaller frame sizes by utilizing spherical lenses. The goggles may be a bit smaller but since the lens curves away from your face it is less susceptible to fogging (and yes, even a tiny bit of distance makes a difference). If you are a facemask user or if you produce a lot of body heat then you will need a higher volume goggle.

Last but not least on the goggle feature list is ventilation. Ultimately, you want to keep the air moving through your goggles. This will exchange the muggy air for crisp, dry mountain air. As long as you keep moving, this air flow will act like the defroster on the windshield of your car and keep your lenses nice and fog-free. Some of you may call me out here by pointing out what I said earlier about keeping the air inside your goggles warm and not cool. Well, the foam barrier in your vents will slow down this air flow enough for you body heat to regulate this. Also, having dry air inside your goggles is more important than keeping it very warm. However, this can sometimes be a problem but Smith has your back with their Regulator system. You can simply close the vents when things are looking clear and then open them back up for a quick defrost when necessary.

If you keep this stuff in mind you may just have a fog free season. If you think you may need new goggles here is our collection of Smith this season ranging in price from the $28 Sun Valley to the $160 Turbo Fan Phenoms.

Smith Spherical Series: