How to Make Snow Goggles
More Articles Related to Improvised GearKnowing how to make snow goggles in a pinch – and when you need to wear them - is one of the basic winter survival skills.
In order to properly make a pair of improvised snow goggles it is important that you understand something about snow blindness and how it happens.
What is Snow Blindness?
Snow blindness is caused by excessive exposure to ultraviolet rays (also known as UV light) that are contained in sunlight. In effect, snow blindness occurs when your eyes become sunburned. Often the symptoms are delayed, so that several hours after the burn happens you will begin to feel the effects. By then it is too late and your survival may be at risk.
Symptoms of snow blindness include your eyes becoming bloodshot, sensitive to light, a feeling of grittiness, or even your eyes swelling shut. Becoming severely snow-blind could lead to permanent vision loss and perhaps the later development of cataracts.
Becomming snow blind may very well have a disastrous impact on your ability to survive in the wilderness. Imagine it is 20 degrees below zero, you are alone, blind, and attempting to set up a shelter and build a fire. Not a very good prospect. Even you are in the company of others you will become a burden to them as you will be quite unable to function without their help.
How Snow Blindness Happens
The reason snow blindness is so common in cold weather environments is that snow and ice reflect large amounts of ultra violet radiation that would normally be absorbed by the ground. In addition, for every 1000 feet (300 meters) of elevation there is an increase in UV light of about five percent because the protecting atmosphere is thinner than at lower elevations.
On sunny days, the reflected glare from snow can be so great as to make it very difficult to see even when squinting. Very bad sunburn to any exposed part of your body is not unlikely. This is especially true for your eyes, which need to function optimally if you are to survive in the wilderness.
Be warned that you can become snow blind even when the sun is behind clouds. The reflective power of the white show and ice, perhaps combined with high altitude, serves to magnify the amount of UV light your eyes absorb.
Making Snow Goggles
Survival snow goggles are made from whatever materials are at hand in order to protect the wearer from snow blindness. Wood, bark, cloth, or other materials can be used.
Natives of the higher latitudes where snow is common have been making improvised snow goggles for thousands of years. They often made a pair of snow goggles to protect themselves from snow blindness by using a piece of bark. More elaborate are the bone and tusk goggles made by the Inuit of the far north latitudes as shown in the image.
To make a pair of bark snow goggles find a strip of bark six or eight inches long and about 4 or six inches wide. Birch bark makes excellent improvised snow goggles but other types of bark will do.
I recommend finding bark that has naturally been removed from the tree rather than stripping off a piece from a living tree. In the case of birch bark it is often naturally found lying on the ground in sheets of various sizes. I make it a habit to pick up some the larger pieces as I am hiking because of its excellent fire kindling properties.
To make bark snow goggles
- Cut the bark into a rectangular shape.
- Measure the distance between the center points of your eyes.
- Transfer this measurement to the center of the bark and cut out a small slit for each eye. The slit should not be very large, perhaps 1/8 inch wide at most
- In the center bottom of the bark cut out a wedge shaped piece for the bridge of your nose.
The size of the slit in the bark is important. You can see through a surprisingly narrow hole. A small slit is best because it will limit the amount of UV light that reaches your eye. For best results experiment with the size of the hole that is best for the conditions.
Often the natural curve of the bark will cause it to wrap around your face naturally. If you are wearing a winter hat as I am in the picture, the hat can serve to keep the snow goggles firmly in place. A cord can be attached to either end of the home made snow goggles if desired.
Your Knowledge is Your Best Survival Kit
Like many wilderness survival skills, the making of bark snow goggles to prevent snow blindness may seem trivial once you learn how. But experience has shown that many people in the outdoors have become snow blind when the means to prevent it was right at hand. Primitive survival technologies can be just as effective as modern survival gear, and have been proven by expert survivors for a much longer period of time.
A little knowledge can go a long way in helping you to survive in the wilderness.
St J VT
You can make these using cloth, any will do even from a shirt, sock, or whatever. Also grass, weaved cattail leaves, even animals fur. I like the bone Inuit Goggles, very clever.
florida
It's easy to make snow goggles. I made my own out of different items around the house. a computer pad, and some hard black rope. The rope is thin but strong. The Eskimos are incredibly smart to live in the polar in spring time.
Survival Topics: Good job Carl. Another reason to have a hank of 550 paracord in your survival kit.
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New York
I tried making these goggles and they work very well. The Eskimos know how to survive in the winter and can show many ways.