Once a single snowflake falls inside your goggle, fogging has already started.

By Paul Oberin

By following a few simple rules, goggles are less likely to fog up. Goggles fog because water vapour gets inside the goggle and doesn’t clear quickly enough. Sufficient airflow is required through the goggle to keep them clear.

For most goggles, air enters underneath the goggle through openings in the frame and exits at the opening in the frame at the top of the goggle, carrying with it the water vapour. The aim of the wearer in keeping the goggle fog free, is to prevent any water vapour entering the goggle, and any vapour that does enter must be cleared quickly.

Follow these few steps and you will have clearer vision:

• Always put your goggles on under cover if it is raining or snowing outside. Once a single snowflake falls inside your goggle, fogging has already started.
• Never lift your goggles up onto your forehead in between runs as you will be placing your goggles onto the fresh snow that is there and some will stay inside the goggle and melt.
• When it is snowing wear a cap or beanie with a peak that will cover the top vents of the goggle so they don’t get covered in snow, once these vents are covered the air flow stops.
• Never wipe the inside lens of a goggle when it is wet, as the inside of any goggle lens has an anti fog coating that will wipe off when wet.
  

Lens colour is mostly what you are happy with, but even a clear lens should remove all the UV that is harmful to your eyes, the tinting is mainly for comfort with a few exceptions.

A yellow lens will reduce blue light and increase contrast to help your vision in flat light.

A grey lens is good for reducing glare, while a polarised lens is used to filter reflected light.

All 3 lenses can be found in the one lens made by Carrera and was developed by our present importer of Carrera in Australia. The second generation of the Carrera lens has been around for a few years and now includes a scratch resistant outer coating. This means that when the outer lens gets iced over, just wipe your glove over it and remove the ice, any other lens would get scratched if you used your glove.

The carbonflex lens also uses armour plate technology making the lens bullet proof at 30 metres from a .22 calibre, this is useful with some of the very sharp pole points on some of the poles like leki, which are tungsten tipped and very sharp.

Visit Paul's Web site www.paulski.com.au