Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Sunglasses vs goggles?

Any thoughts on sunglasses vs snowglasses or welding goggles? Many people have different preferences. Assuming most folks hit the switchbacks and summit between 10am-2pm, a reduction in brightness could alleviate many headaches and eye strain. Any thoughts?

Jeff,

A good pair of sunglasses should be just fine.I have a pair of polarized Bolle's that wrap around and offer great protection of my eyes.Work great in all conditions,never slip or fall off when I'm hiking or exerting.I've even worn them in bright snow conditions with no trouble.Great for spotting the trout in small lakes and streams too.

I sometimes wear ski goggles over my prescription glasses. This provides great wind protection.

brain's got it. I too have used skigoggles over sunglasses on snow when the bright sun is blazing. And when the 40 mph wind is blowing grit. And when it is ultra cold. All these scenarios depend on your mountain, but any big mountain storm can cause this.
Other option is glacier glasses, you know, the old style with leather flaps, or make you own with duct tape.

theres that duct tape again, I love it!

I have some wraparound perscription Rayban sunglasses and I regularly ski at Mammoth in heavy snow while wearing them. At times it does get bothersome, however not as bad as fogging from goggles over glasses

Go with glacier glasses, which block out 88 to 92% of visible light. Before the switch over from my regular sunglasses I had a major problem with glare induced headaches.

If you need prescription glasses check out Opticus.

My eyes have been sensitive to wind (causing tearing) for as long as I can remember. A few months ago I got some Panoptx on sale from a catalog. They are a sunglass/goggle combo. There is hydrophylic material around the eye cups on the inside, designed to touch your skin and take away perspiration (kinda hard to get used to the touching), but making a complete seal so no light gets to the eye w/o going through the polarized lenses. Sorta had my doubts when I first put them on, but now I love them.....................steve,, p.s. I think they are the 'cyclone' model of their line of sunglass/goggle combos..

goggles could cause some discomfort, depending on how tight you need to keep the band. i'd hate to have to depend on those for glare protection, and then get a pounding headache at altitude, which certainly can happen.