Flat Light - Technique/Optics to mitigate it

[Seldomski]

I'll throw some praise towards my Zeal Automatic polarized goggle lenses. They have a natural amber base, and they actually transition based on how bright it is outside.

I've had the same Zeal goggle for the last ~10 years or so. Work in flat light and in bright conditions. They are awesome!! Problem is, they are starting to get some damage/delamination of the film at the nose. I'll need to replace them soon... Not sure if they are automatic or not, but it would explain some things.

 

[François Pugh]

Fog is one thing, and it's really crappy to ski that, as you have absolutely no orientation where to go. Flat light is the other thing. With that, good goggles help (what color of lens is personal thing so what works for me, is not necessarily going to work for you), but on the end, the only way to handle that is to learn to ski that. Best advice I ever got was from one racer ages ago. With normal light, you see track infront of you and you prepare for bumps etc. In flat light you can't so you need to learn how to ski reacting to things once you hit them. I'm sure it's easier said to be done, but that's pretty much exactly the way every racer is skiing, as most of time flat light is normal thing. You are a bit slower this way, you make more mistakes, but you just learn to react to things once you hit them. And I can tell you after a while it works. Nowadays I have absolutely zero problems riding 80 or 90km/h in complete flat light and you just deal with things once you hit them. And it works even in backcountry for me, not just on polished race courses.
But as I said, fog is different thing, at least for me, as I simply lose track where I'm going, and I normally have really good orientation feel, but in fog everything is same, so it already happened I was wondering why I'm slowing down only to realize I'm actually turning into the hill

Reacting to what you hit may work, but it depends on what you hit. I once hit a wind ridge in flat light that knocked me right out, even though I was able to see it in time to brake for ~40 feet (then re-align skis to point down the hill and pre-jump and pull tips up to little avail).
Make sure you "inspect the course" before letting the skis run on an open public slope.

Fog can be very bad. One of these days, I'll install some fog lights on the tips of one of my pairs of skis.

 

[Primoz]

I am absolutely amazed at the speed some Europeans go at in 1 pole visibility on piste.

Well we are all crazy over here But seriously... flat light is one thing, bad visibility (due fog) is another thing. With flat light it just takes some practice, and you can ski normal. With fog and zero visibility you just have to be lunatic to go full speed ahead

 

[surfacehoar]

I ski at Big White-out, which has the reputation for the worst fog and light anywhere. I will say it's probably true.

The absolute worst is freezing fog. You can't see anything when your googles are coated in ice. My best tip here is to take a glove off and use the palm of your hand to clear the ice. Your skin won't scratch your lenses, like a scraper or leather glove will, and the heat from your hand will melt the ice easy. It takes one quick wipe and your lenses will be clear, at least till they ice over again.


I've tried all the lenses, when it's really bad, clear is best. I use a yellow lens from smith that's rated slightly better than the stock sensor mirror flat light lens that comes with the i/o's.

Lots of good tips in here already but I'd like to add is to stay patient. Relax and stay in a ready position, look for landmarks. (here we have bright yellow poles marking the easy way).

Final tip would be follow the wind it will take you to the best snow.

 

[blah]

BRT Main off of Challenger lift at Big Sky this past Sun. When the powder is good, just have to go for it and trust those fat skis.
I have an amber low light lens which works well enough, though, in conditions like these.

 

[crgildart]

Flat light from an overcast day isn't anywhere near the same type of problem pea soup FOG being IN the clouds is. Stay low and get off ad mid stations if it's high enough. Or, ski the summit and only down TO the mid station if it's full inversion. If neither of those options reduces the white out and you're not SUPER familiar with the terrain best to bail and either try to wait it out or come back another day.

 

[Paul Lutes]

All tried and true solutions, unless you have normally aged eyes after 55-60 - then your best option is run away to ski another (sunny) day. After a certain level of wear and tear there is no way to make eyes that can't see much of anything in low light conditions get better. Night driving in howling blizzard conditions should also be avoided at all cost.

 

[Sibhusky]

All tried and true solutions, unless you have normally aged eyes after 55-60 - then your best option is run away to ski another (sunny) day. After a certain level of wear and tear there is no way to make eyes that can't see much of anything in low light conditions get better. Night driving in howling blizzard conditions should also be avoided at all cost.

Yes, I'm finding I have less tolerance for foggy days every year (now 66). I just saw the eye doctor in the fall. No cataracts supposedly. But this winter I've been thinking I MUST have them. Flat light? To me that's standard. Please, give me flat light! The fog can get so bad that I've been literally lost on trails I've skied thousand of times. I was at an intersection last week, could only tell where the turn was by the sense of the angles of the bit of slope under my feet. Trees? Not visible, they're all covered in white, so fading into the fog. Made it down that trail finally, the trail I ski daily as a warm up run, and DOWNLOADED to the base so I could go up a different area and stay under the fog. So, flat light? I'll take it.

 

[François Pugh]

If you're skiing a big mountain and it gets very foggy or the light is really bad and you're not totally familiar with the runs AND their condition on that day, then it's time to put away the SGs (or big mountain chargers), take out the SLs (or shorter radius skis) and slow down to SL speeds.

 

[Philpug]

I will add another @Bob Barnes -ism..."What you can't see, you will feel".

Not much is a day shortener to me is flat light. I agree with most, as good as some of the goggle technology is, they really are just sucking less. I have had days so bad that vertigo set in, just standing there, I fell over and didn't realize it.

 

[Jacob]

+1 about goggles really just making the visibility a little less bad. I don't think anything other than an artificial light source would actually make the visibility good.

Since I do most of my skiing in the Alps, I get a lot of low visibility days above tree line. You just have to focus on being balanced with your legs relaxed and ski at a pace that won't hurt you if you fall, because there's always a chance that you'll hit or fall off something you can't see.

And keep your head up. If you can see your skis, then you're probably looking down too much.

 

[crgildart]

Night driving in howling blizzard conditions should also be avoided at all cost.

This reminds me of another option. If the place has high skiing, come back when the lights are on. That's, hands down the best solution for a flat light day.. waiting until after the lights come on.

 

[crgildart]

I ski at Big White-out, which has the reputation for the worst fog and light anywhere. I will say it's probably true.

The absolute worst is freezing fog. You can't see anything when your googles are coated in ice. My best tip here is to take a glove off and use the palm of your hand to clear the ice. Your skin won't scratch your lenses, like a scraper or leather glove will, and the heat from your hand will melt the ice easy. It takes one quick wipe and your lenses will be clear, at least till they ice over again.

There's an app for that..

 

[crgildart]

I still think goggles are limited due to having the lens farther from your face and eyes like a visor. I've had better results using good flat light enhancement glasses with the lenses closer to my eyes than even the best goggles. Glasses are only an option when it's not dumping, not pouring, and not super cold though.. Maybe it's just my old eyes, but given the choice between the best goggles and the best glasses I still take glasses every time when there is no precipitation and the temps are above 15F. Even in light rain good amber lens glasses give me way better depth perception than good amber or rose goggles.

 

[Eleeski]

Vertigo can be a problem for me when the visibility is zero. I find a skier whose line I like and tailgate them - cures the vertigo. Somewhat annoying to strangers but I usually do it to my family. The kids led me to that tough zero vis pitch so they have to get me out!

I don't like contacts but they are a requirement for low visibility as my eyes age. Glasses under goggles don't work for me. When it's bright I'm OK fuzzy. Lots of famous words on cloudy mornings as I hurry to install floppy sticky contacts in my beady eyes.

Eric

 

[skibob]

I still think goggles are limited due to having the lens farther from your face and eyes like a visor. I've had better results using good flat light enhancement glasses with the lenses closer to my eyes than even the best goggles. Glasses are only an option when it's not dumping, not pouring, and not super cold though.. Maybe it's just my old eyes, but given the choice between the best goggles and the best glasses I still take glasses every time when there is no precipitation and the temps are above 15F. Even in light rain good amber lens glasses give me way better depth perception than good amber or rose goggles.

An interesting point. Since I like my yellow cycling glasses so much, do you think a good clear, untinted OTG goggle (with my glasses underneath) would be the way to go in bad light?

 

[Mike King]

Some really good suggestions above. Despite investing in lots of lens options to try to provide visual relief, there are some conditions and terrain that simply are going to provide no visual contrast. So there are a few things you can do to deal with this situation:

1. As suggested above, learn to use your poles to provide some stimulus about the slope and snow conditions you are skiing in. This was a very valuable tip I learned from a top pro at Extremely Canadian where often you are skiing gnarly terrain without visual contrast.
2. Send someone in front to provide some visual contrast. You can trade off.
3. Keep your eyes and head up. Trying to find contrast in front of your skis isn't going to do you any good and you'll lose your sense of balance.
4. Train to ski by feel. In a ski camp I did with Dan Egan, he blindfolded us and had us ski by feel and direction provided by a guide. Not easy, and I cheated. But it does work.

Some of the best skiing I've had is skiing deep and steep powder when I couldn't see anything. There's something sublime about skiing by feel. I've also had some miserable experiences in hard packed or chowder where the feel wasn't there.

Mike

 

[Sibhusky]

I will add another @Bob Barnes -ism..."What you can't see, you will feel".

Not much is a day shortener to me is flat light. I agree with most, as good as some of the goggle technology is, they really are just sucking less. I have had days so bad that vertigo set in, just standing there, I fell over and didn't realize it.

My last four falls were all in fog. Two where I thought I had stopped moving, only hadn't. Two where I didn't see a radical little shelf in the grooming and slammed into it with my skis coming to a halt. The last two are why I have gotten so damned tentative in fog.

Fog is a big enough deal here that I devoted a section of my site to discussing how to deal with it: http://www.wmr-guide.com/tips2.html#Fog

 

[tball]

A patroller helping an injured skier who inadvertently skied off a cliff in Copper Bowl on a big powder day. Another patroller at the top warning folks off.

 

[crgildart]

An interesting point. Since I like my yellow cycling glasses so much, do you think a good clear, untinted OTG goggle (with my glasses underneath) would be the way to go in bad light?

If the glasses do the job I'd definitely try that..

As for fog and actual clouds, I have no advice other than to avoid skiing any unfamiliar terrain in that stuff. I guess if visibility is less than 200 feet no flat light enhancements have what little light and shadows they need in order for enhancement. Either go really slow or bail and come back when/if conditions change for the better.