Your snow goggles fogging up may be nothing new, but that doesn’t make it any less dangerous.
Sure, it can be a struggle to know how to keep your snow goggles from fogging, given the situations you often find yourselves in on the slopes.
Nevertheless, it’s important to make this a priority in all your ski and snowboarding adventures.
With good-quality equipment and the right tips to follow, you can significantly reduce the fog-related problems that occur during your adventures.
How To Keep Your Snow Goggles From Fogging and Blocking Your Vision
Understanding why snow goggles steam up is crucial to preventing it from happening.
By taking note of the things that lead to fogging, you can start to pick up on behaviors that might have been causing it.
It should also help you learn how to keep ski goggles from fogging in the most effective ways.
Why Do Snow Goggles Fog Up?
As soon as your goggles start to build up fog, you can almost be certain it’s for either one (or both) of the following reasons:
Warm Air
If you want to find out how to keep goggles from fogging, you must learn what takes place when warm air comes in contact with its cold surface.
Fogging happens when the warm, moisture-rich air from your breath comes in contact with the goggles’ inside lens.
This humid air then condenses and forms droplets that build up on the lens’ surface, which can rob you of sight in no time.
Sweat
Sweat also fogs up goggle lenses, so avoid working up some while you’re wearing your goggles.
If you need to do some hiking before the actual skiing, don a pair of sunglasses for that part and stow your goggles in your pack’s mesh pocket.
You want to avoid stashing your goggles in your humid jacket pocket.
How Do You Keep Snow Goggles From Fogging Up?
Before you climb those tall, snowy slopes, goggles at the ready, check out these important tips on how to stop goggles from fogging.
1. Get Your Hands on a Quality Pair
The fact is the materials that constitute goggles can mean the difference between them steaming up like nobody’s business or remaining fog-less regardless of how fog-inducing the weather is.
In short, cheap goggles are pretty much guaranteed to blind you at some time.
Not all cheap or do-it-yourself versions are bad, but most don’t offer efficient ventilation and other useful anti-fog features.
Reviews are vital for getting your hands on an awesome pair.
It would help if you also look out for the following essential features:
- Ventilation
Efficient vents allow air to escape freely, keeping the temperature stable enough that condensation doesn’t form on the lens.
- Anti-Fog Coatings
Almost all goggle brands claim to be anti-fog.
Unfortunately, that is far from the case where goggles on the lower end of the price spectrum are concerned.
Goggles on the mid-high price range and above tend to have a superior anti-fog coating that prevents warm air from condensing on the lens.
Their lenses are also built in a way that water runs off rather than sticks to the surface.
- Dual-Layered Lenses
Cheap goggle varieties tend to have one rather than two lenses.
Goggles with double-layered lenses keep fog from forming by creating a powerful thermal barrier.
- Sphere-Shaped Lenses
These lenses sit a little farther from your face than traditional ones to provide a broader field of view.
This also means they are less likely to steam up, as there’s more space for heat to dissolve.
2. Stay in Motion
Ventilation systems are a staple feature in most snow goggles.
Some of the pricier pairs even provide battery-powered systems for more convenience.
Still, there’s only so much these built-in mechanisms can do.
You want to supplement a pair’s anti-fogging abilities (or lack of it, in some cases) by staying in movement to keep the air flowing.
3. Welcome Air in on the Lifts
Things can move at a snail’s pace while on the lifts, so no matter the efficiency of the vents, there might still not be enough wind for them to function completely.
Maintain your goggles’ cool temperature by lifting them from your face to welcome in some air.
You don’t need to go overboard; a few seconds should be enough for the air inside the goggles to match the air outside.
4. Avoid Overheating
As discussed, it’s the heat from our breath that warms the air inside our snow goggles and causes condensation.
The heat that comes up from our clothing also creates the same effect.
So, the best thing to do is to keep from overheating.
To know how to keep ski goggles from fogging, learn the many ways to stay warm on the slopes that don’t entail sweating.
Snowsports are quite intense physically, so even when surrounded by all the frosty powder, it’s still possible to overheat.
This could then cause you to sweat and unleash all that warm vapor up to the inside of your goggles. Talk about instant blindness!
5. Don’t Let Snow or Moisture Enter the Vents
If snow is falling extra heavy or the situation calls for some rolling around in the snow, your goggles’ vents might have snow and moisture on them.
This could result in a humidity increase in your goggles’ interior, so make sure to remove it all as soon as possible.
Take care in wiping the snow and moisture off with your gloves or fingers, as this could result in getting more of them inside the vents.
Instead, find a solid surface to tap your equipment against so that the snow falls off easily.
6. Don’t Tuck in Your Face Mask
Tucking your neck warmers, face masks, or balaclavas under the bottom of your goggles provides a path for hot air to enter and come in contact with the lens’ cold surface.
This is not how to keep goggles from fogging. In fact, doing so can leave you blind in seconds.
If it’s extra chilly outside, tuck the tiniest amount of fabric possible to shield your nose.
Make sure the material doesn’t occupy the space between the padding and the foam fully.
7. Don’t Place Goggles on Your Head
Remember that heat rises, so resting your goggles on your head could lead to all your body’s warm, humid air getting inside it.
Unless the situation absolutely calls for it, don’t move your goggles from your eyes when doing your runs.
This is how to stop goggles from fogging and affecting vision that snow sports enthusiasts often forget.
8. Don’t Smudge Your Lens
If you faceplant on the snow or get some droplets on your lens, avoid wiping it off with your gloves or fingers.
Doing so might only smear the lens and make the fogging issues worse.
Particles of dirt also draw in more condensation, which will cause your goggles to steam up more than usual.
Make sure to keep the soft fabric that comes with your goggles handy in your pocket, so you can dab it on the lens when this happens.
Don’t use it if it’s wet; otherwise, it will just end up smearing the lens.
If you just dug your goggles out of the snow, you may need to shake or tap it on a hard surface before dabbing and waiting for it to dry.
9. Dry Your Goggles Properly
As soon as you get home from a day of skiing or snowboarding, let your goggles sit on a surface where they can dry naturally.
We advise against using a hairdryer (despite its popularity with some users).
Drying with a hairdryer has proven to cause some problems down the road, so it’s best to just be patient instead.
10. Bring a Spare
If you usually can’t wait for your main pair of goggles to dry out, you might want to consider getting a spare.
It doesn’t have to be an expensive pair, just an affordable one with efficient vents and double-layered lenses.
How Do I Make My Goggles Anti Fog?
The key to keeping fogging issues at bay lies mainly in choosing goggles with superior, anti-fog coating and ventilation.
As discussed, some pieces of equipment are simply built not to steam up, while others fog up easily.
Nonetheless, these features can only do so much to prevent fogging.
Knowing how to keep your snow goggles from fogging as much as possible requires effort beyond making wise buying choices.
The user must also apply the tips above to improve their item’s already great anti-fogging mechanisms.
Sounds great, doesn’t it? Now all that’s standing in your way to becoming the man of the mountain is a top-class utility knife.