Prioritizing Eye Health on the Trail: What to Look for in Cross-Country Skiing Sunglasses

Cross-country skiing is becoming more popular. The latest numbers from Statista show that 5.32 million Americans went cross-country skiing in 2023. That’s a significant increase from 4.85 million in 2022! It’s no surprise more people are discovering and loving the sport. It’s not just fun—it also offers a wealth of health benefits.

Cross-country skiing is a low-impact, accessible form of cardio that can improve your balance and even enhance bodily and situational awareness. But did you know that it can benefit your eyesight, too?

The more trails you ski, the better your vision will be when navigating bright, snowy environments. Researchers even find that cross-country skiing can prevent or slow the progression of common ocular diseases like age-related macular degeneration (AMD), cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, dry eye, glaucoma, and even myopia (nearsightedness).

That said, skiing is still a vision-intensive activity in uncontrolled open terrain—meaning it poses some eye dangers, too. Overexposure to the sun’s UV rays alone can gradually damage them, leading to AMD and cataracts. The dry winter air can dehydrate them. More importantly, sunlight bouncing off the snow can overwhelm your eyes with glare—causing temporary vision loss from snow blindness or photokeratitis. Any impacts on your eyesight these factors cause can significantly increase your risk of running into an accident.

That said, you’ll want to wear a good pair of sunglasses on the trail. Look for these key features to ensure you can prioritize eye health as you ski:

High-tech filters

The best sunglasses for cross-country skiing should both protect and enhance your vision on the trail. For a good laundry list of what to look for, it’s worth considering the technologies offered by Bliz. This is the dedicated skiing sunglasses brand imported by EnjoyWinter, which is owned by former Factory Team runner Andy Gerlach, for good reason. Of course, all Bliz sunglasses offer 100% UVA and UVB protection as standard—but they go even further by leveraging other high-tech lens filters you’ll want to take advantage of. Notably, BLIZ HYDRO and BLIZ FUSION add polarized filters that block the sun’s glare to adequately protect you from snow blindness. When paired with NORDIC LIGHT, Bliz sunglasses will also enhance color and contrast so you can better see the trail you’re on. Many Bliz frames also come with interchangeable lens systems, so you can use the best lenses possible for different light conditions. You’ll even get shatter-proof, anti-scratch, and anti-fog properties to ensure you can reap all those benefits for the entirety of each route you try.

Vision-correcting lenses

Sure, cross-country skiing can gradually improve you see the details of snowy environments so you can avoid mishaps, especially if you get sunglasses with vision-enhancing filters. However, all those perks will get canceled out if refractive errors like nearsightedness blur your vision. It’s easy to think that contact lenses are a good alternative to specs on the trail, but the cold air can dry your eyes out to further blur your vision—and, in colder temperatures, can cause contacts to harden or even freeze.

That said, you’re better off getting prescription sunglasses if you need vision correction while cross-country skiing. LensCrafters offers a particularly good selection that includes pairs from popular sportswear brand Oakley. That includes models like the RSLV, Latch™ Panel, Kato, and Radar® EV Path®. Each set of frames can accommodate even higher prescriptions on their lenses—and their oversized, wraparound designs mean you can benefit from clear vision from all angles, so you can view the trail and its hazards with ease. That’s on top of the lens filters they use, including polarized filters and PRIZM technology, which similarly provide glare-blocking and vision-enhancing benefits.

Helmet-ready frames

Cross-country skiers need sunglasses frames that are more than just comfortable to wear and durable enough to withstand impact and extremely cold temperatures. For ease of use, they should ideally be helmet-compatible, too. After all, you don’t want them to slip off! Wondering what that looks like? Consider the latest sunglasses-and-helmet set from Smith Optics. The Pursuit sunglasses are made from bio-based injected polymer to create durable, lightweight, and razor-thin frames that don’t block your peripheral vision. These boast additional features perfect for cross-country skiing, such as vents that provide additional airflow to prevent lens fogging. More importantly, these frames are magnetic—meaning they snap right onto the brand’s Summit helmet and won’t come off. This pairing ensures you can protect both your head and eyes without having to worry about your sunglasses dropping somewhere along the trail, or being so tight that they squeeze your temples and cause headaches. This study even confirms that the design of this set has been found to help recreational-level Alpine skiers more quickly react to hazards in their peripheral vision, meaning they’ll be doubly beneficial for you as a cross-country skier.