I am headed to a mountain in china next month where the summit climb will be in snow. The recommended equipment list says "goggles" - REI didn't even have anything but ski goggles. What is recommended? Are sunglasses good enough? I am new to this and the information for the trip has been a bit sparse. This will more or less be a one time deal so would rather not invest a lot for the one day of the climb on snow but also don't want to go snow blind.....suggestions?

Julbo glasses can be of use. The sun will reflect off the snow and cause some soreness to your eyes. The higher you go, the more it'll burn. This is why they recomend glacier glasses or goggles to block off all excess light.

I prefer the Julbo Nomad glasses myself, not too expensive and work wonderfully to reduce the light, but then again, my eyes burn pretty easily if I'm up high and wearing nothing.

thanks for the tip - the Nomad's look pretty cool w/ removable side shields....a little confused by the lens types though....its seems (from my hour of research here) that you want Cat 4 and Julbo doesn't specify what Category their "spectron 4" lens is?? Do you know what lens you have? thanks,

Spectron 4 is either Cat 2 or 3. It's a nice all-around lens, not really for snow. Spectron 6 is the good stuff.

I used these on my last glacier trip, they were great:

http://www.altrec.com/julbo/tasman-sung ... erralID=NA

I just picked up a pair of nomad's - thanks for the tip.

yeah umm sunglasses aren't that great in very cold conditions. Goggles are great at keeping wind totally off the upper face .The downside is that they are more susceptible to fogging. A good flexible goggle system is the Oakley A-Frame system. Once you have the goggle frame, clear, yellow and polarizing lenses can be bought.

The only time I have problems with my glasses would be in high winds, it's true. In extreme cold (anywhere from -30 - -50 C) if the wind isn't too bad, the glasses work amazingly well for me.

In response to an earlier reply, Julbo has changed their rating #s to make them less confusing, Spectron 4 now means Cat 4 glasses which is what would be needed.

And as to the recent buyer of the Nomads, enjoy your amazing glasses. But be aware yes, in high winds and some other situations, you'll want goggles.