In mid July, I'm leaving for Svalbard (Spitsbergen) for a month-long expedition. I'm going to be spending a fair amount of time on glaciers/icecap, so I need a decent pair of glacier glasses/goggles and I have a few questions:
- Does anyone have any experience of using soft disposable contact lenses in the field, esp. in cold, dry environments? Were they comfortable? Are there any hygiene problems (dirty hands etc)?
- If I were to take contact lenses, would I need goggles (to keep the air round my eyes warm/moist) or would a decent pair of wrap around glacier glasses with side bits keep the wind/snow out?

I was thinking something like this (the ones at the top) http://www.needlesports.com/acatalog/Mail_Order_Glacier_Glasses_57.html.

Sorry loads of questions, but any help appreciated.

Dave

Hi Dave.

I've used disposable contacts in the alps in summer and in scottish winter. only problem was when I managed to blink one half out and the wind blew it onto the inside of my glacier glasses!

Not used them in really cold dry conditions (cold and wet, yes!). Would suggest taking some containers of saline for washing your fingers before fitting the lenses - they dont weigh much and are sterile till you open them.

I'm currently looking at getting some glacier glasses with changeable lenses, as last year I had a bit of trouble in some iffy light conditions - it was too dark to see properly with my glasses on, but too bright when I took them off! So amber lenses would have been great (like my mates glasses that he had on).

Unless you normally have problems with your contacts drying out, then I would say that its going to be down to comfort as to whether you need glasses / goggles. The contacts wont make it any worse.

Top tip - try and keep your lenses that you're going to use in the morning warm (stick 'em in a pocket or whatever) because I found that when I let them get cold - they stung like a b@stard when I put them in.

HTH.

Si

Thanks Si- very useful.



Dave

You can get some stuff called REFRESH which is a moistener suitable for soft lenses.

This winter in the Alps I found that wearing goggles really helped with the drying-out/sore eyes problem when whizzing about. Shades alone allowed a certain amount of wind to enter my eyes and make them sore and red. if it's not too cold it won't be a problem but when it gets way below zero then goggles are a boon with lenses.

Thanks for your input Jeannie, what I think I might do is get some wrap around galcir glasses as mentioned above, and chuck in my cheap but chearful (and effective) ski goggles (currently used for mountain biking) for extreme days, cos I think in general goggles will be OTT esp. for sitting around on a sunny glacier doing science research all day.

Thanks

Dave

Alternatively there's the route I took - can't use contacts - which was to get some prescription lenses for the glasses, the wraparoundy ones with the leather side shields and nose bit. Zeiss do some pretty bloody good lenses which (don't try this at home kids) even let you look at a bulb and see the filament hidden inside the glare - but no retinal burn afterwards. £100 for the lenses, not much more than you'd pay for standard prescription lenses.

I would support the idea of getting prescription lenses into proper goggles or whatever. If you need UV protection in the form of glasses or goggles, then making these prescription ones gives a huge improvement in comfort.

I think Julbo do some (made to order) glacier glasses. Not cheap, but just the same as the normal ones.

Prescription glacier glasses would be nice, but if you already wear contacts, then is that the way forward?

I can't really justify the extra cost for the amount of use I'd get out of them - but thats just my tuppence worth....

Si-my feelings exactly. Also, wearing contacts would give an extra bit of flexibility i.e. if the sun went in or whatever, I could put the glasses on my head without having to rummage through my rucksack to find my glasses.

Swapping shades for specs every verse end is the pits.