Guide: What you need to know when choosing ski goggles

If you're planning a trip to the snowy mountains, choosing a good pair of goggles can be a bit of a jungle. We've compiled some of the most important features you need to know to be ready for the slopes.

If you have a ski holiday coming up, it requires that the equipment is in order, where a pair of goggles is essential to be able to fully enjoy your experiences in the snow. We guide you through everything you need to know about ski goggles.

The frame of your ski goggles

Goggles or ski goggles , as they are often called among the Danes, must fit really well throughout the day, where the materials on and around the ski goggles are important for your comfort and the fit of the goggles.

Material

To prevent your ski goggles from getting ruined every time your tricks go wrong and for your own safety, a polycarbonate frame is a good material if you are looking for durable goggles.

Plastic ski goggles will often break and shatter, which may be less convenient in a crash. Polycarbonate, on the other hand, is more impact resistant, and is therefore more flexible, durable and comfortable to wear.

At MessyWeekend, we only produce our ski goggles in first-class polycarbonate, the end result being super durable goggles that won't limit you from trying out your crazy tricks on the slopes.

Foam technology

Your ski goggles should be comfortable to wear all day long. Here it is obvious to pay attention to the layer of foam used on the inside of the frame. This helps to give you comfort, and also affects how tightly the ski goggles fit to your face, so that air and cold do not penetrate your eyes and onto your skin.

Foam technology in ski goggles varies between one and three layers of foam. The more layers, the better the air circulation in your goggles, preventing fogging and sweat from entering.

Both our The FLOAT and The INUIT goggles have three layers of soft foam to give you the best comfort, fit and airtightness.

The lens

In snowy landscapes, there can be days with more light, cloudy skies, blizzards and many other changing weather conditions. That's why it's super important that the lens provides optimal vision and protects your eyes, to also ensure your safety on the slopes.

Photochromic all-around lens

A photochromic lens automatically adapts to weather conditions, as the photochromic molecules constantly re-calibrate as the light changes. The lens therefore changes color depending on the light conditions. For example, a photochromic lens will darken when bright light hits the lens and become lighter if it suddenly becomes cloudy.

Goggles with photochromic lenses are a good thing to have when you find yourself in the changeable weather conditions that a ski trip in the mountains often entails. The photochromic lens is for you who never have an excuse NOT to go on the slopes regardless of the weather, where with a good photochromic lens you don't have to change lenses or goggles during the day.

The photochromic technology is new and therefore rarely seen among ski goggles, but they are the perfect all-around lens.

At MessyWeekend, we recommend our INUIT ski goggle with photochromic XEp lens, which changes color according to weather conditions in just 25 seconds.

Read Rider's test of our new Inuit ski goggles here .

High-contrast (contrast enhancing lenses)

With a high-contrast lens, you get a sharper view when you look through the lens. High-contrast technology filters out white and blue light, which makes contrasts and contours appear clearer. This is an advantage when you need to get an overview of the shape of the ski slope and the contours of the snow. The high-contrast lens helps you see more clearly in cloudy and foggy conditions, which reduces eye strain and increases comfort in otherwise cloudy conditions.

When you're hurtling down the slopes at high speed, high-contrast lenses will help you maneuver through, around, and over pump jumps on the road that the naked eye would normally miss.

Both our ski goggles FLOAT and INUIT XEp have high-contrast lenses with a violet base, which ensures increased color recognition and falcon-like vision on the mountain.

Anti-fog

Anti-fog is indispensable when you're skiing, unless you don't mind your lens fogging up, thus impairing your vision on the way down the ski slope?

Without an anti-fog system or double lenses, your goggles will fog up due to the temperature difference between the cold air and your face. An anti-fog system involves two lenses, with a layer of air between them, which acts like double glazing, so that the heat from your skin does not condense on the inside of your goggles.

At MessyWeekend, we have of course equipped both our FLOAT and INUIT goggles with anti-fog and ventilation systems for optimal prevention of fogging.

Revo mirror coating

Revo-coating is a coating developed by NASA and was initially used for astronauts' solar protection. A revo lens monitors the light that hits the lens by filtering out harmful UV light and allowing only the light that is useful for your vision. Revo-coating is a polarization technology that protects you 100% against glare from direct light and reflections from, for example, water, snow and mirages on the roads. The color sorting of the revo coating also improves contrast for the seeing eye by eliminating glare and sharp reflections.

UV protection

It may sound boring, but it is extremely important that you choose goggles with UV protection. In fact, it is a feature that you should not be without. This is because you are always exposed to UV rays, and at higher altitudes the sun's rays are especially harsh on your eyes.

The snowy landscape can be beautiful to look at, but the white hills unfortunately also have a downside, as you can become snowblind or get so-called 'welded eyes'. This occurs when you are in the clear snow for a long time without UV protection, as the snow reflects the sun's rays, which can cause burned retinas.

The FLOAT and The INUIT both have full UV 400 (UVA/UVB) protection, which is the maximum sun protection offered on the market, so you don't have to worry about the sun's harmful rays.

What color lenses should I choose for ski goggles?

The color of the lens often doesn't have much of a role, and is therefore more about your own personal preference.
However, your goggles or ski goggles may have different color coatings, which have a function in relation to your vision on the piste.

For example, our ski goggles at MessyWeekend are available with yellow, silver, green and blue lenses, which is due to our revo-mirror coatings and our interchangeable lenses.

Our FLOAT ski goggles are available with either green or silver lenses, while our INUIT ski goggles are available with blue lenses. This is due to the color of the revo-mirror coating we have chosen for each model.

Read more about revo-mirror coating further up in this post.

You can use yellow lenses when there is cloudy weather with flat light. That is, days when the sky is covered with clouds and the blue sky is not visible. The light will therefore be 'flat', and where shadows will not be formed. The flat light means that you cannot see bumps and contours in the snow. Here, a yellow lens will allow you to achieve optimal vision, where the contours and shadows of the snow are highlighted.

You can purchase a yellow overcast lens for your FLOAT ski goggles here .

Goggles and glasses

As a glasses wearer, it can be nice to be able to keep your glasses on while skiing. Here you should look for goggles with notches in the sides, as there is space made for glasses under the ski goggles. This type of ski goggles is also often called 'over the glasses' goggles, and is often marked with 'OTG'.

If you want ski goggles with space for glasses, it may also be an advantage to choose goggles that have several layers of foam on the inside of the frame, which molds to your face and does not put too much pressure on your glasses.

However, you should be aware that not all types of glasses can be worn under ski goggles. Very large glasses or glasses with a cat-eye effect will probably be difficult to squeeze under a pair of ski goggles.

At MessyWeekend, all of our ski goggles are designed with notches in the sides to make room for any grooves under the ski goggles.