Skiing Binoculars

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Ski Binoculars
I have to confess that I have never been skiing or snowboarding before so it may seem a little strange that I am writing an article recommending the best skiing binoculars to you! But someone who does ski a lot wrote to me and they were extremely helpful in that they were very specific about what features are required, so it is just down to me to highlight these features and if possible find the binoculars that have all or as many as possible of the required features in order to find the best binoculars for skiing and snow boarding.

>Why Take Binoculars Skiing?

Main purposes:
A good pair of binoculars will come in very handy especially if you ski off-piste: Before going down it is preferable, even important to "scout" the downhill terrain to determine an optimal path to go down and identify possible dangers ahead. Also for navigation you need to look around. Even if you use topographic maps, aerial photos and have a local guide, the snow will vary every day, and as such you have to use your eyes (an binoculars) as well.

Secondary purposes:
To enjoy the mountain views, see some wildlife and see other skiers!

>Features

Below are the main features to look for in a good pair of binoculars for skiing:

Weight and Size
The binoculars need to be carried with you when skiing, but often during climbing as well. On top of this most people will probably be flying to their skiing holiday and as such it is obviously preferable to have a binocular that is not only lightweight but compact enough to easily pack into your luggage and ski pack. The obvious choice would be a full compact binocular, but I would also suggest looking at mid-sized binoculars that should still be still small enough, but have the added advantage that they will be much easier to use with thick gloves on.

Waterproofing
It is inevitable, especially with thick gloves on that you will drop your binoculars in the snow or in a pool of melting water. There may also be times that you use them in poor weather conditions so it only makes sense that your binoculars are waterproof.

Fogproofing
This feature is more important to skiers than just about anywhere else as cold air + warm breath + glass = fog! Fogging up of your optics often also occurs when you get rapid changes in conditions. The temperature in the backpack can easily drop to -20°C (-4° F), but when used in the sun it might be up to 10°C (50° F). On top of this once you get back to your cozy log cabin, your optics will go from very cold conditions to very warm ones in a short period of time.

Toughness
You will fall when skiing and often at high speed. On top of this because you will often be wearing thick gloves when using your optics, the possibility of dropping them is higher. A tough pair of optics with rubber armour is thus preferable.

Operation:
The binoculars should be easy to operate with thick gloves on. Look for glasses that have large focusing rings, this is especially relevant if you decide on a compact binocular as opposed to a mid-sized binocular. Binoculars like the Minox 8x33 BL (see below under my recommendations) that have an open bridge design will also be much easier to hold onto with gloves on.

Brightness
Whilst on good days there are not many places on earth where the lighting is better than on top of a snow clad mountain. But when the weather goes bad, it can get very bad and mountains can "white out" and so they should be able to perform well in poor light conditions.

The best performing binoculars in poor light conditions will be ones with large objective lenses, which makes the binocular large and bulky, something that we have already decided is not desirable. Small binoculars that have high quality prisms, lenses and lens coatings will outperform ones with larger objective lenses with inferior optics. So as a compromise I would recommend choosing compact binoculars that have as good a quality optics as you can afford. Binoculars should at least have BAK-4 prisms and be "Fully Multi-Coated", which means that all air to glass surfaces have received multiple layers of antireflection coatings that will assist light transmission.

What will also help with image brightness is not choosing a binocular that has a huge magnification. The higher the magnification, generally the less bright the image is produced by the optics. See below.

Contrast
A good contrast is also essential to asses the terrain. Again high quality optics will help. As a sign of quality look out for binoculars that advertise that they are "Fully Multi-Coated" and not just "Fully Coated" or "Multi-Coated". Not common except on the very best roof prism compacts are Phase Correction coatings on the prism glass that keeps light in correct color phases will enhance resolution, contrast, and color fidelity.

Eye Relief
I am not sure if you would use the binoculars primarily with or without your sunglasses, but it might be the easiest to be able to keep them on and so a pair of binoculars with a good amount of eye relief could be useful. In most cases an eye relief of 14 to 15mm is needed for the average eyeglass wearer to be comfortable. Ideally though you should look for binoculars that have 16, 17 or even 18mm.

Update on eye-relief and glare:
Below is an email I recieved from Ken Blackman regarding using binoculars in snowy conditions and the glare off the snow - as he has far more experience than me in these conditions, I would take his advice and look for a pair that has plenty of eye-relief so that you can use them with your glasses on. I am not sutre how much eye-relief you would need for goggles - can anyone help?
I read your report on skiing with binoculars with great interest as I have been skiing for the past 30 years, there is one aspect of your report that you basically floated over but which is vitally important and that is using Binos using sunglasses, you did mention that you may or maynot use binoculars with sunglasses? I would say never use them on snow without sunglasses, goggles? or filters, a lot of damage could be done to your eyes if you looked through binoculars at sun drenched white snow, just looking at snow without binoculars that is reflecting the sun is bad, everyone who skis wears either sunglasses or goggles because of the risk of snow blindness, I would put it in the same categary as looking into the sun, have you tried using binoculars with goggles? is it possible as the eye relief with goggles is immense? I feel you should edit your report with this danger in mind.

Magnification
Whilst it is always tempting to get the highest magnification possible, this is not always desirable. High powered magnifications make it much harder to keep the image that you are looking at through your optics still and generally the higher the magnification, the less bright the view will be through your optics. Another down side to a high magnifications is that it usually results in a narrower field of view. A good wide field of view is always better when using your optics to scan large areas. I would recommend sticking to around 8x - 10x magnifications for skiing binoculars.

Field of View
A wide field of view will make it much easier to scan the terrain. Not massively important in this context, but if you have a choice between two binoculars that are very similar, go for the ones with a wider field of view.

Other Important Features

• Shape: Having something with sharp edges in your backpack can not only be annoying, but dangerous if you were to fall on it, so look for a binocular that has nice smooth rounded edges.
• Look for binoculars that either have lens covers that are tethered to the body of your optics or as most one so are attachable to your neck strap - this will prevent you from either loosing them.
• Good value for money is always desirable, but especially if all your money has already gone to hiring helicopters ;-)

>Recommendations

So to sum up we are looking for lightweight, tough, compact or mid size binoculars that are fog and waterproof. They should have good to excellent quality optics with a magnification of around 8x to 10x and be easy to use with thick gloves on!

Below are a few pairs of optics that I have researched and have as many of the requirements listed above as possible and as such I feel would make great ski binoculars:

If the price of the Minox 8x33 BL above is a little too steep, take a look at either the Nikon 10x36 Monarch ATB DCF Binoculars or the Barr & Stroud 8x32 Sierra Binoculars below.

All the glasses below are either Compact or Mid Sized binoculars that are both water and fogproof with a magnification of around 8x to 10x and come with good to excellent quality optics: