How to Prevent Snow Blindness

A couple weeks ago I was up on a glacier at over 17000 feet to do a video review when the sun came out full force and I realised that I didn’t have any sunglasses. After struggling for close to an hour on the the slope I was starting to see dancing stars and I realized that I was on the road to causing temporary damage to my vision. I pulled off onto a rocky area to try to deal with it.

Fortunately, although I forgot my sunglasses, I had packed a few other items in my pack and was able to make something to allow me see on my way back down off the glacier. Continue on to read more and see the video.

I’m sure we’ve all seen some kind of documentary or something that talks about this idea and maybe even had to resort to duplicating it. It was a fun experience and I decided to video tape it to see how it would go.

Snow Blindness or Photokeratitis is essentially when you give your cornea or conjunctiva a sunburn from intense UV rays. At 17000 feet I was at a much serious risk of that than I would have been at lower elevations.

Inuit goggles – wikimedia

Traditionally the Inuit of Canada used to carve goggles out of caribou antlers. They were held on the head with sinew. Others used birch bark, or wood, whatever resources were available.

Question: Have you ever suffered as a result of forgetting sun protection or had to improvise? Leave a comment below!