The laws of thermodynamics are against me.

December 27, 2012 6:56 PM

How do I keep my glasses from fogging up while skiing? Just got back into (downhill) skiing but I wear glasses now, and peering through the fog that forms on them when I'm wearing goggles is making me crazy, plus I can't see things like icy spots or fallen snowboarders. Are there some sort of secret techniques for preventing this?
posted by genmonster to sports, hobbies, & recreation (13 answers total)

Cat crap
posted by treehorn+bunny at 6:57 PM on December 27, 2012 [4 favorites]

Came in to say Cat Crap.
posted by bondcliff at 6:58 PM on December 27, 2012

I got glasses built into my goggles.
posted by shothotbot at 7:00 PM on December 27, 2012

Spit, or soap, wiped off my specs used to keep things unfogged for me. Also check your googles' airflow adjustments.
posted by anadem at 7:08 PM on December 27, 2012

I suffered this for years. The answer is contact lenses when you do sports, especially snowsports, which I do every weekend and several times a week in the winter.

I have a 2.75 reading prescription and 1.25(ish) distance prescription. So I buy 1.25 contact lenses (which I only use for sports) and carry a 1.5 prescription pair of compact specs around with me. This means I can snowboard or xc ski or mountain bike or whatever with the contacts in, and whip out the specs if I need to read a map or a smartphone (the prescriptions simply add).

At a pinch, if my lenses fall out or I just want to bail on them for some reason, I can use the 1.5 specs and carry on.

This totally changed my life.

I use the daily contact lenses and because I only use them for outdoor sports like this, a pack lasts me forever.

The dealbreaker for me was riding a 24 hour MTB race in the summer during a thunderstorm. My glasses fogged so I tried to clean them, but my jersey(which I used) was caked with sand from the course, and instead totally destroyed the lenses.

I wear glasses for everything else, but active sports? Lenses.
posted by unSane at 7:33 PM on December 27, 2012

i found that switching to solar shields kept fogging from being a problem. they're not goggles so they allow for more airflow
posted by lester at 7:37 PM on December 27, 2012

Definitely contacts.
posted by radioamy at 8:47 PM on December 27, 2012

I thought the first few posters meant real cat crap at first...

When I scuba dive, I use spit on my mask, and it works great, but I'm not sure if it'd be the same with ski goggles.
posted by fruitopia at 9:24 PM on December 27, 2012

Lick them. For serious.
posted by elizardbits at 9:40 PM on December 27, 2012

If you want a product, Jaws Quick Spit is an anti-fog coating that works quite well for this.
posted by blnkfrnk at 10:54 PM on December 27, 2012

Yeah, I know what you mean. I spent two winters up in northern Greenland, and found two things that help somewhat: spit helps a bit (but make sure the glasses are dry before you go outside, otherwise instead of fog you'll get frost or even ice), or Rain-X (the stuff that makes water bead up on car windshields.)
posted by easily confused at 4:48 AM on December 28, 2012

If you hate contacts, you do have options. I personally have retarded eyes (one perfect, one practically blind), so wearing contacts isn't something I do well.

These changed my life. I use option 3, or just a set of inset of my prescription that sits inside my goggle. They cost me about 75$ 3 years ago, and are awesome. I have such better depth perception when I use them (they're basically giant old man glasses that fit inside your goggles). they're kind of visible when I use a very light lens, and pretty hard to detect with a dark lens (my goggles' lenses switch out).

I use the inset with the Smith I/O goggles and it takes a lot to fog them up- and I'm speaking as someone who does backcountry mountaineering semi-regularly.

In the mean time, cat crap really does work quite well and is pretty cheap.
posted by larthegreat at 6:23 AM on December 28, 2012

Saliva works a charm
posted by 0bvious at 11:58 AM on December 28, 2012