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Flat light

MissySki

Angel Diva
I have a horrible time in flat light.. Sunday River can be really horrible for this, especially when the days are short once the sun goes behind the mountain.

Interesting to see the suggestion of clear lenses, perhaps I'll try that sometime. This season I've been using the Smith chromapop storm yellow and it hasn't been any better than my old lens for flat light. In fact I actually think the contrast is worse than my old rose colored Smith lenses for my eyes.

Last weekend one of the days the light was even horrible in the trees which was new to me, people in my group really wanted to ride with their goggles up but obviously that's a really bad idea in the trees. Well it is for me anyway because I have plenty of little branches that smack my goggles at times, I'd rather not be able to see well than get hit in the eye. lol
 

newboots

Angel Diva
I always thought that the flat-light colored lenses were just hype, until I was trying on goggles in the shop one day. Someone suggested to wear them outside. I walked out and instantly understood. I compared them with no goggles at all on a cloudy day, and I was really surprised to see so much more detail on the parking lot with the yellow lenses.

But the light is still flat. I slow down, or decide it's time to quit, depending on how bad it is. <shrug> As one of the "seniors" skiing, I have to know my limits!

The suggestion to wear bright colors in the article seems like a good idea. I'm not in compliance! My jacket is a darkish purple but my pants are the color of flat light! Pale gray. Hmm.
 

NewEnglandSkier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I've always hated flat light---and am not a senior. It has bugged me from when I first started skiing at age 30.
In flat light or stormy days I use my Oakley Hi Yellow lens and while it's way better than my other lens choices, I still don't enjoy skiing in flat light, though skiing groomers in flat light isn't too bad--it's mostly 3D snow that I struggle with (flat light or not!)
 

cskis88

Certified Ski Diva
I have a pair of Scott goggles with their Illuminator lense, VLT is about 50%. It's my favorite, and I can no longer find this exact replacement lens for my goggle style, so will likely get another pair when these get too trashed to see through anymore. I've had them for three seasons, and they're still good with only a few little dings that don't bother me. I have three different lenses for these goggles and Illuminators are my go-to in everything except super bright spring bluebird skiing. Light at my home mountain, Lake Louise, can be famously flat on the back side and at the summit, and these lenses are about the best I've found. I'm in my fifties and while eyesight isn't awful, it's changing. I notice it most when driving at night.
 

Abbi

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I have a pair of Scott goggles with their Illuminator lense, VLT is about 50%. It's my favorite, and I can no longer find this exact replacement lens for my goggle style, so will likely get another pair when these get too trashed to see through anymore. I've had them for three seasons, and they're still good with only a few little dings that don't bother me. I have three different lenses for these goggles and Illuminators are my go-to in everything except super bright spring bluebird skiing. Light at my home mountain, Lake Louise, can be famously flat on the back side and at the summit, and these lenses are about the best I've found. I'm in my fifties and while eyesight isn't awful, it's changing. I notice it most when driving at night.

Nighttime driving was the second telling thing for me. Somewhere in my early to mid 60s. The first one was when I figured out my arms weren’t long enough in my mid to late 40s! :eek:
 

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
My flat light vision gets worse every year. I’m 51. It sucks. One of the comments said to avoid traverses. This is so true! I can feel my way down a slope but a traverse or flat? It’s horrible! Trees help immensely. Unfortunately where I ski, there are a lot of wide open places with no trees.
 

snoWYmonkey

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
My tactic includes keeping head looking forward not down even if I can't see as it helps for balance.

Slowing down, way down.

Next to trees if they are around.

Trusting that my feet and legs know how to turn.

"Seeing with my belly button". Essentially continuing to focus on keeping my center of mass, a place a few inches down from belly button and halfway between belly and back, centered over my feet. That will tell me a lot in terms of pitch changes and helps me adjust to uneven new snow.

Last but not least in super flat light the uphill or inside pole very gently touching the snow can help me know how steep thr pitch is when I literally can't see it.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
I'm using the Abom heated googles this year since otherwise my googles are too foggy with a mask, and they aren't as good in flat light as what I was using previously. Oh well. But even those, the Oakley Hi-Yellow, only do so much. So I just ski near trees on those days. That does mean not going to the top of my home mountain, but that's okay. Having seen my SIL fracture her tibial plateau when she just didn't see a bump in very flat light, and having had some very unpleasant times in flat light and fog in alpine environments, I'm in the "stay healthy to ski another day" camp.
 

fgor

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I'm not old and I'm also not a fan of flat light :/ my storm lenses (smith blue sensor) are definitely better than no goggles at all in those conditions, but if the light is flat enough it really throw off my balance. Some good tips in this thread, I'll have to put them into use when my season rolls around!
 

Olesya Chornoguz

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I'm using the Abom heated googles this year since otherwise my googles are too foggy with a mask, and they aren't as good in flat light as what I was using previously. Oh well. But even those, the Oakley Hi-Yellow, only do so much. So I just ski near trees on those days. That does mean not going to the top of my home mountain, but that's okay. Having seen my SIL fracture her tibial plateau when she just didn't see a bump in very flat light, and having had some very unpleasant times in flat light and fog in alpine environments, I'm in the "stay healthy to ski another day" camp.
Question - which lenses are you using? I have Abom's yellow, amber mirror green (for bluebird days), yellow is fantastic for me in fog, I used to get bad vertigo in fog, but now with Abom yellow lenses I don't. The amber lenses are great when it's cloudy and there is flat light. I usually wear them on cloudy days and yellow on foggy day. The yellow lenses are great in flat light too.
 

nopoleskier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
We ski in so much flat light in the East. I like clear lens the best- I'm old but always have had problem at dusk and w/flat light skiing. I see very well in dark though.

I have a pair of scott googles they are for flat light, almost clear but a slight amber tint, they are pretty good. My vermilion lens work OK. I need new googles current all scratched, that's my pet peeve they sure scratch easily.

As for technique, yes to what @snoWYmonkey said so well. I'll add keep your legs/knees like slinky's ready to absorb or stretch. And yes speed is huge factor.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
Question - which lenses are you using? I have Abom's yellow, amber mirror green (for bluebird days), yellow is fantastic for me in fog, I used to get bad vertigo in fog, but now with Abom yellow lenses I don't. The amber lenses are great when it's cloudy and there is flat light. I usually wear them on cloudy days and yellow on foggy day. The yellow lenses are great in flat light too.

I have the yellow. My vision is not great in low light and it's a little compromised in general. I've had 3 surgeries in one eye plus the contacts I wear when skiing can't correct my astigmatism enough. The Oakleys seemed to work better for me, but that's just me.
 

newbieM

Angel Diva
I had my first experience with flat light.

And even though my goggles were tinted yellow I couldn’t see any texture and it freaked me out because I had been on that run before and knew it wasn’t flat. I’m going to maybe check out some others in hopes of not having to experience that again. It was surreal and I am glad I read about it here so I figured that is what it was.

Thankfully it was towards the end of the day so I just called it a day and grabbed a beer outdoors while waiting for my BF.
 
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Soujan

Angel Diva
I've had poor eye sight almost my whole life. I did have laser eye surgery in 2006 and had to start wearing glasses again 5 years later. My night vision is not so great and I struggled with flat light. I've tried gray, clear, and yellow lenses. I would usually quit by 3PM when the light starts to fade and there are more shadows. Two years ago bought Giro goggles with the Vivid lens. Makes a huge difference. The lens significantly enhances contrast. I can see the terrain better and I was shocked when I could clearly make out each snowflake falling. The Oakley Prizm lens is similar. DH has the Prizm. Unlike me, he has good eyesight and he says the Vivid lens is better.
 

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