I lost my glasses in the snow. Any tips/tricks on how to find them?

January 2, 2014 7:27 AM

In a freak accident early this morning, my glasses were flung from my face into 8"+ of fresh fluffy snow. I spent a little bit of time digging around trying to find them, but it was limited because I had to get to work. The snow is still falling, and I think we are supposed to get about another 2-3" by the time I am able to get home (where the glasses are, somewhere). I don't have a metal detector available, and this happened on a public street. The glasses are also fairly small and non-descript thin metal frames that are black on the top and silver on the bottom. When I get home, I am planning on going to the general vicinity with a rake and hoping I can grab them that way. What other options can I try?

As to how this happened -- I was cleaning the snow off of my car when I brushed the antenna with my arm, causing it to spring back, hit me in the face, and somehow hook under my glasses and throw them. They really could have gone anywhere, including underneath the car or somewhere else on the street. I do have contacts, so I'm able to get by without them, and as long as they aren't stepped on or driven over they should be OK.

posted by Fig to Grab Bag (26 answers total)

MeFi ate my carefully worded answer, but I'll rephrase:
- Manual labor: How many kids do you have access to that want a bump in their allowance and a chance to play humanitarian deminer or archaeologist? Block the area off in squares and go through it like they do on CSI. Small shovels, a screen/mesh, and string to mark your squares will be useful.
- Heat: Do you have a heat gun? A Fresnel lens? Melt off the snow in your area using electric or solar power. Properly run off water to not create super icy conditions as the melted snow refreezes.
- Fluid mechanics: Do you have anything to blow the snow away? I think a snowblower will be too violent and likely to suck up the glasses and chuck them somewhere new or destroy them outright. But, a ShopVac can often run in reverse, or an air compressor could be interesting...

I spent 25 years in deep, deep snow winters and have also lost glasses to the snow. Your incident is one in a million but you can resolve this; mine was a bigger territory (ski slope) and I never had a chance.
posted by whatzit at 7:40 AM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Rather than a rake, go in with a shovel. Sift through the snow and move it away.

Also: i think you might want to accept that your glasses aren't going to get found prior to be ruined - either by people or by rust.
posted by Kololo at 7:47 AM on January 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

How close is this to your kitchen? I might haul out a lobster pot full of hot water!
posted by thinkpiece at 8:08 AM on January 2, 2014 [5 favorites]

I love whatzit's answer of using kids. That is beyond a doubt what I would do in my neighborhood if this were to occur. Recruit a handful of children, give them a few bucks each, and then offer a BIG BONUS PRIZE to whichever one finds them (like maybe a $20 target gift card or something so they can buy a toy).

Our snow is really powdery right now, so I think a rake would actually be a good sifting option.

Good luck!

(As a side note, I got a $100 rebate card thing to See recently which is up at the end of the month. If the glasses don't turn up today, memail me your address and I'd be happy to send it to you can recoup some of the loss on sweet new frames.)
posted by phunniemee at 8:18 AM on January 2, 2014 [11 favorites]

Extension cord and a hair dryer?
posted by adorap0621 at 8:18 AM on January 2, 2014

Do you have a dog, or access to a dog? I wonder how much of your scent might still be on the glasses? I honestly have no idea if metal will hold a scent at all, or for very long, but it could be worth a try.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 8:23 AM on January 2, 2014

Metal detector. Cheap ones from a toy shop are like 40 bucks and if you have a metal frame under nothing but snow probably good enough. Find glasses with it, return it if you are that sort of person, or keep it around in case it happens another time.
posted by wwax at 8:28 AM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Any methods involving heat may damage the glasses if you actually find them- acetate and lens coatings shouldn't be directly exposed to boiling water or hot air. Raking might scratch them. Finding them by hand would be safest if that's doable so I vote for the kid search party.
posted by slow graffiti at 8:31 AM on January 2, 2014

I can tell what probably won't work: Way back when, my dad dropped my mom's wedding ring in the snow by the car (he had picked it up from being resized). At night. Downtown Denver. After a few minutes of panicked and fruitless sifting, he grabbed all the snow he could and put it in the back seat of the VW bug, in hopes that when it melted the ring would be there. No ring. Wet car.

But, I have found dropped tiny things by trying to replicate how they fell and narrowing the search area. You could park your car and try to spring something of comparable size/weight as your glasses off the antenna a number of times. Watch closely where it lands and make that your search zone.
posted by ecorrocio at 8:39 AM on January 2, 2014 [8 favorites]

Any attempt to melt large areas of snow by any method other than "wait for spring" would be a lot slower and more laborious than sifting through it (which will be plenty laborious on its own).

If it landed in fresh snow you might have been able to spot the entry hole if you searched immediately -- but on a public street that will have cars and snowplows going through, after a full day when it's still snowing, the odds that they'll still be intact even if you luck into finding them seem fairly low. Maybe you'd get lucky if you spent enough time sifting around with a leaf rake, but if it were me I think I'd spend the time indoors shopping for new glasses instead.
posted by ook at 8:41 AM on January 2, 2014

Rent a good metal detector.
posted by jamjam at 8:41 AM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

leaf blower
posted by InkaLomax at 8:53 AM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Black grit or salt will melt that snow FAST (in hours). Neither will hurt your glasses, as long as they aren't dragged forcefully through the grit.
posted by IAmBroom at 9:01 AM on January 2, 2014

Salt or leaf blower, then shovel sifting. Bringing in as many people (kids) as possible is a good look for this.
posted by klangklangston at 9:12 AM on January 2, 2014

The glasses might have gone further than you thought. My wife once slipped, and her wedding ring fell off in the snow. I melted the entire drive way with salt, and sifted through all of the slush and couldn't find anything. I shoveled the nearest 4' of snow from the sides of the drive way to melt/sift through it and couldn't find it. We sadly accepted that we'd likely be buying a new one. During a partial melt a few weeks later, one of our kids noticed it about 10' further than we thought it could have been.

So yes, lots of child labor, but double or triple the reasonable search radius.
posted by nobeagle at 9:16 AM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Provided the snow really is fluffy, I wouldn't rule out a net. It would take some patience, but if it's not too sticky, you could definitely at least try some sifting methods.

I do kind of like the pots of water idea -- it wouldn't even have to be boiling, it could just be warm, which presumably wouldn't hurt the glasses.

I think you have to accept that the possibility this will end badly is out there and can't be entirely eliminated. I mean, to me, the kid search party, while a nice idea, sounds a lot like it could end with somebody kneeling on your glasses well before actually finding them. I'm not sure anything is foolproof, but you have a good chance.
posted by Linda_Holmes at 10:20 AM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Tangential, but if this were me and I still had my prescription available I'd preemptively order a $10 replacement pair from someplace like Zenni or goggles4u.com, or I think Coastal.com has a "first pair free" deal.
posted by needs more cowbell at 10:20 AM on January 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: I do have dogs; but, they are not even remotely trained to sniff anything out... I think I'd have to have rubbed down the glasses with a cheeseburger or some bacon first.

This is unfortunately a block away from my house, and I don't know the people who live in the place adjacent to where I parked, so anything electric is probably a no-go.

I don't have any children to exploit either. On the other hand, Mr. Fig will be leaving work shortly and offered his services and seems to be very excited about this challenge. Maybe there will be some curious kids (or even adults!) that pass by that'll help out.

I am aware that this has a very very small chance of ending well. However, if there is one group of people capable of coming up with creative methods to try, it is Mefites.
posted by Fig at 10:36 AM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Tennis racket.

It will sift gently through soft powdery snow. As to identifying the location, re-create the moment the glasses flew off using a substitute. Let it fly - it'll give you a close proximation.
posted by Kruger5 at 10:43 AM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Badminton racket would be a little smaller, but also much lighter and easier to wield repetitively.
posted by Quisp Lover at 10:48 AM on January 2, 2014

We don't have any snow to test right now, but as an act of desperation I would try a laser pointer (green would be best if you have access). If the snow is not packed I suspect a green laser pointer would travel through 8-10" of snow quite easily probably producing an interesting scattering pattern viewed from a distance - if while you are scanning the pointer over the snow you see a different pattern that would indicate something under the snow. You could scan quite a large area using this method...

This is probably most easily done during the night but might also work in the day if you have a bright enough pointer...
posted by NoDef at 11:03 AM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

How about using a strong magnet? Tape it to a yard sick or something and as you sift through snow it might pick it up? Get a really strong magnet from home depot if you don't already own one.
posted by Jaelma24 at 11:34 AM on January 2, 2014

Response by poster: Update -- Mr. Fig found them! He said they were buried in a snowbank with just the ends sticking out about 3' from the curb, and they are reported to be in good condition. Woo! Thanks for all of your help, I made sure he saw this thread before starting to search.
posted by Fig at 2:28 PM on January 2, 2014 [19 favorites]

Don't worry, everyone! The story has a happy ending.

And now I'm going to have to explain to my wife what "EFB" means!
posted by Mr. Fig at 2:30 PM on January 2, 2014 [7 favorites]

You are very lucky - Yay. Maybe buy a lottery ticket?
posted by theora55 at 8:51 PM on January 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

I'm so charmed by the fact that your mefi name is actually Mr Fig. True love!
posted by Kololo at 8:06 AM on January 3, 2014 [3 favorites]