If you thought that going down a mountain on your board or a pair of skis is already thrilling, then you probably haven’t tried doing that at night!
Something about the nighttime gets the blood pumping and the adrenaline kicking up.
Maybe it’s the thrill of the unexpected? The somewhat creepy atmosphere from the neighboring trees and their shadows bleeding across the empty place?
Whatever it is, doing anything outside at night can be an entirely new adventure, that’s for sure.
And just like any adventure, you’ll need to gear up to be safe!
Lucky for you, the best pairs of goggles for night skiing and snowboarding are just inches below from here.
All you need to do is scroll down a bit more, and you’ll see the options available for you already!
5 Best Goggles for Skiing & Snowboarding at Night for 2022
ZIONOR X Ski Goggles
Having wide, panoramic views is ZIONOR X’s specialty.
The spherical and frameless design of the goggles allows you to easily take in all the scenery around without missing out on anything!
Because of how wide the lens is, these goggles allow you to wear your prescription glasses underneath, especially since there are indentions on the face foam at the sides for where you can place them!
You should know that its size isn’t just for show, as ZIONOR made sure it’s safe and solid with its unique Enhanced Durability Technology, which is engineered to protect you from any nasty spills in the snow.
This would be ideal for a night sesh on the snow because who knows what’s out there in the dark!
There’s a long list of colored lenses you can choose from, all with their Visible Light Transmission (VLT) percentage.
The ones with “Clearlens” in their name are highly recommended since they’re under the S0 category in VLT because they have 94%, making them perfect for meager light conditions.
Ironically, though, regardless of its category, each one of these lenses still has a UV protection coating,
It’s not at all helpful for the Clearlens, but hey, maybe in one of your impulsive moments, you might settle with this instead of swapping it out for the day.
But remember- you can only replace a ZIONOR X lens with another X lens because anything from the other X series will be incompatible with the ZIONOR X frame!
While these lenses have UV protection, they also have an anti-fog coating.
However, it’s not enough for it to be effective when the inside of the lens can still fog up and gather moisture.
And this moisture can result in streaks and stains from the water because this lens is NOT hydrophilic!
JULI Ski Goggles
Even though this brand is not very well-known, I bet you’ll immediately check them out once you get a look at this!
JULI Ski Goggles reigns as the biggest pair of goggles in this list, but is it the best snowboarding goggles for the nighttime?
Once you keep reading, you’ll see!
Just like the ZIONOR, these goggles’ spherical, frameless design will allow you to gaze at the scenery without limiting yourself from thick borders.
Ventilation is a must for a nightly venture into the snow, and having double-layered lenses can help with that!
It’s designed to optimize the airflow inside the lens so you can keep being toasty while breathing in cool, fresh air without fogging up the surface!
To help you see clearly in the dark while being protected by the blistering cold, you can choose from the colored lenses between the different VLTs and select the one with a clear lens.
It’s even designed to be Over the Glasses; that way, you could see where the heck you’re going PROPERLY!
However, this downside is that it lacks any scratch resistance, so you should be careful where you tuck it away once you’re done.
OutdoorMaster Ski Goggles PRO
Just by its name, the OutdoorMaster’s genuinely proven itself as one of the best with its Ski Goggles PRO!
Its frameless design is somewhat reminiscent of ZIONOR X’s when the OutdoorMaster PRO can also provide you with a clear, unobstructed view of your surroundings.
A detachable lens system allows you to enjoy picking between 20 or MORE color lenses to be swapped around.
What’s more, it has a VLT of 99% from its clear lens option! That’s so much more than the ZIONOR X!
And you don’t even have to worry about any fog because every lens option available already has an anti-fog coating AND UV protection!
Other than its VLT, OutdoorMaster has another trick up its sleeve to make it different from the rest of the night skiing goggles here: A one-year warranty!
However, I doubt you could have anyone fix its face foam.
OutdoorMaster advertises its ski goggles as OTG-designed, and it IS big enough to fit a pair of prescription glasses!
But the issue comes in when there are no indentions on the face foam’s sides; those indentions are meant to be where your glasses can perch into.
Without them, you’ll just put your glasses in and have it keep slipping down since it doesn’t have solid support from the goggles!
HONGDAK Ski Goggles
As another fairly average pair of ski goggles, HONGDAK provides the basics of what you’ll need for nighttime goggles.
Double-layered lenses are part of its design to maintain quality ventilation.
This works alongside the face foam used as its triple-layer material is moisture-wicking, and it’s molded to your face for a snug goggle-to-face fit that keeps any outside element STAY outside!
Also, it’s worth mentioning that the face foam has indentions at the sides, so it could let you wear your glasses inside the goggles.
A broad, panoramic view is provided since it has a frameless, spherical design, like the ZIONOR X, JULI, and OutdoorMaster PRO.
UV protection is already a given for every color option available despite the different VLTs provided.
However, the HONGDAK stumbles into the same problem as the JULI, with weak scratch resistance.
Wildhorn Roca Snowboard and Ski Goggles
If you’re an avid fan of the snow Olympics, you’ve probably heard of the Wildhorn Outfitters.
This team supplies for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team, and if you didn’t know yet, this team is America’s national and Olympic governing body for some of the most famous sports worldwide!
So, with this kind of reputation, you’d think it has one of the best snow goggles here, right?
Well, let’s check it out!
These goggles use magnets to detach and reattach the lenses for quick and easy replacement between the other colored options and VLTs.
It is further accompanied by an integrated clip-locking system that keeps it from getting lost after taking a nasty spill in the powder.
A triple-layer face foam like the one from HONGDAK will cushion the blow if that happens, so that’s another worry checked off.
However, you might find it not exactly comfortable, especially if your face shape is leaning more on the broader side.
Although it’s only semi-frameless, Wildhorn created the Aurora Lens Technology to keep up with the other frameless designs and give you a panoramic view with its spherical lens.
Double-layered lenses are part of Wildhorn’s design to work with its anti-fog coating.
Although it’s already made from shatterproof polycarbonate material, Wildhorn doubles the protection by applying the anti-scratch coating on the outside layer of the lens.
Like most snow goggles here, UV protection is already included in the lens.
In the end, you can probably see it’s not so noteworthy since it has the same features as the others, but it does fill in the criteria for a pair of dependable night goggles, so that should be enough on its own!
Things to Consider Before Buying Skiing & Snowboarding Goggles for Night
Layers Upon Layers
It shouldn’t be so surprised at this point in 2022 to have technology advanced for almost everything you see.
The same applies to something as “simple” as a pair of snow goggles!
Ventilation already matters so much for everyone, but why does the nighttime matter now?
Up the snowy mountains, the difference between day and night might just be separated by the time or the location of the sun.
A small detail that can be easily overlooked is the drop in temperature once the sun starts to set.
Through advanced technology, eyewear brands have integrated a curve into the spherical lens’s shape that allows more space inside the goggles than the flat, traditional cylindrical one.
And that space shed inspiration for the double-layer lens!
This double-layer lens plays a HUGE role in ventilation.
Between two panes of lenses, the layout is available where both cold air from outside and the warm air coming from inside can circulate.
Then, instead of having the warm air stick around for much longer, it gets exhausted out of the goggles, giving you a smooth, unbothered airflow while retaining the heat where your face is!
Another perk for letting the warm air out is it can’t accumulate moisture inside the lens over time, letting you enjoy the wide berth of your surroundings!
With due time, nearly all night skiing goggles out there have been adding double-layered lenses into their designs, even on the cylindrical.
Still, the spherical design will always have the advantage over the rest of the lens shapes because of its “bubbled out” detail that can hold more air on top of the double-layered lens.
Light It Up!
It’s cold. It’s dark. You can’t see a thing, and you heard something move a reasonable distance from where you are.
The snow goggles of your choosing can somewhat fix two out of these problems on your list!
How?
Using the Visible Light Transmission (VLT), of course!
The VLT is measured by the percentage of how much light the lens can allow through.
Categorized into five, here’s how you can tell what VLT is needed depending on the light condition:
S0 has a VLT of 80% up to 99%, ideal for dark conditions.
The best examples are ZIONOR’s lenses with a VLT of 94% and OutdoorMaster’s VLT of 99%!
Next is the S1, which is for lenses with a VLT of 43% to 79% since this can work on minimal light.
Followed by S2 with a VLT of 19% up to 42% to accommodate a decent amount of light.
Lastly, bright, sunny days are worth the VLT of no percentage to up to only 18% for the S3.
Usually, these snow goggles have various color options to choose from because the color can affect the glare coming from the sun bouncing off the snow along with their respective VLT, so don’t rust in choosing!
Swap It Around
Speaking of color options, did you know you can just buy the lens to replace the one you have on your frame instead of buying a pair of new goggles entirely?
All five goggles in this selection enable you to detach the lenses for a quick and easy replacement.
If the sun’s beginning to rise on the horizon, exchange it for a lens with lower VLT.
For nights, the higher VLT one should do.
Of course, this feature SHOULD be mentioned in the goggles’ description.
Unless you want to ruin your goggles on purpose, you better not go around ripping the lens off the moment you have it in your hands!
Make sure to read its manual first because you never know; you might’ve skimmed over the detail that you accidentally bought a single-lens pair of goggles.
Final Thoughts
Enjoying the snow at night makes up for a quiet atmosphere the mind yearns to have once in a while.
But it would be dumb to go out there in the dark without the proper gear for it!
By using a suitable pair of night skiing goggles, you can take your time to observe and enjoy what you initially missed in the dark while keeping yourself as warm and comfortable as you possibly can to fight off the night chill.
Also, if you are already looking for skiing goggles, you should check out these photochromic ski goggles to review more alternatives.
Happy Skiing!
