The number one question I get asked is " How do I know what lens to use "?
That is a complicated question and not as easy as one would think. Generally, people think that it's a sunny day so I will wear my dark lens or goggles today. What they don't think of is how much shade will they be skiing in. Here in the PNW most of the hills are really shade affected until later in February or March so you need to think about that. Do I want to see in the shade or cut the brightness in the sun? Most skiers will pick the dark lens on sunny days. Skiing into the shade on a bright sunny day is extremely challenging optically.
I think it's better to use a high contrast medium tint lens like our orange blue or Rose HD Polarized if you have a lot of shade on a bright sunny day. From my point of view it's better to enhance visibility in the shady flat light so you can see!
Mission Ridge is my home hill and gets the most sun in the Northwest and I almost exclusively use our orange blue or HD Polarized rose lens as we are mostly in the shade on the north facing runs until March when the sun finally makes it over the top of the ridge for the day. The orange blue lens like we sell was worn by six gold medalists at the Beijing Olympics and five of the races were in full sun.
One of the reasons we polarize a lot our lenses at a tremendous cost is it allows us to make a better lighter tint high contrast lens that cuts the glare without darkening the lens. The real reason the big companies don't polarize their lenses is cost as it is really expensive to do that with polycarbonate, the material good lenses are made of. `
In the cloudy, foggy flat light conditions we ski in here in the PNW, I would always recommend a high contrast lens like a yellow blue, orange blue or rose. I would never recommend clear lenses for day use as they will make you snow blind and I think it would be better to wear a dark lens in low flat light. When you add blue to orange or yellow lenses it creates contrast as the blue darkens the shadows creating the contrast you want. The orange blue lens is like turning on the sun on a cloudy day.
Skiing in full sun in the spring and summer is a no-brainer. Use something dark that protects your eyes as you don't need a lot of help with contrast.
For night skiing most people like clear but yellow blue lenses make the snow pop under the lights. The foundation of Xevo is supplying race teams across the country and many of them train at night and use the yellow blue. The Xevo race team at Alpental CityLeague all use yellow blue and it is what I use at night.
I think the biggest mistake that a lot of skiers make is using lenses that are too dark. People really like the look of dark blackout and mirrored lenses and gravitate towards them for cosmetic reasons. One of the things I have learned about skiers is for most it's not what you see but how you look when you are seeing it. I can talk to our kids on the race teams until I'm blue in the face about good lens selection and I will show up at a race in a whiteout snow storm and they are wearing our dark blackout lenses.
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Some of the XEVO athletes. Click the image to see more of the XEVO athletes.
MORE ABOUT XEVO
Xevo Optics is a ski and snowboard goggle company that has now added a great line of sunglasses. We are based in the beautiful north central Cascades mountain town of Leavenworth, Washington. We have spent the last five years on product testing and evaluation and have had many of the top skiers in the Pacific NW testing our goggles in every condition from rain and fog to high altitude summer glacier skiing. Our company is comprised of lifelong professional skiers that decided we could do it better.
Our goals are simple! We want to deliver the highest quality product to the customer with the best warranty in the business and a no nonsense, no questions asked return policy at a much better price than our competition. Don't confuse our pricing with quality - as we guarantee that our product is equal or superior to our competition at a much better price. We don't run expensive advertising campaigns and we don't pay people to endorse our products. We can reach almost every skier and snowboarder on the planet through the internet and social media.
We would like to thank many people out there that have helped us with testing and product evaluation. We would especially like to thank the patrol, instructors, coaches, racers, park riders, backcountry trekkers, lift operators and skiers at Sun Valley, Stevens Pass, Alpental, Mt. Baker, Grand Targhee, Jackson Hole, Crystal Mountain, Big Sky, Mt. Hood Meadows, Timberline, Mt. Bachelor and especially our home hill Mission Ridge, WA. You all know who you are, and we couldn't have got to where we are without you. There are no words for our gratitude for all your input.
Best Regards,
Mike Lough - Founder of Xevo Optics
