When you’re skiing high in the alpine you need a good pair of sunglasses – it’s as simple as that. The dangers of exposure to the sun at high altitudes can’t be stressed enough.

For every 1000 metres you climb, the exposure to solar radiation increases on average by 10%. On top of this, the snow also reflects around 80 – 90% of solar radiation and given that alpine environments are predominantly covered in snow… well… the numbers speak for themselves.

“For every 1000 metres you climb, the exposure to solar radiation increases on average by 10%”

To add insult to injury, your eyes are in danger from UV damage even in cloud conditions. Cirrus clouds (those high altitude clouds) have no blocking effect whatsoever while fog is only able to block around 50% of sunlight. If you find yourself up in the top portion of the fog, the light can sometimes intensify due to diffraction.

OK, so that’s our public service announcement over. The sun is dangerous, but what can you do about it? Well luckily French-based Julbo know a thing or two about creating high altitude eye-wear that’ll protect you from the worst of the sun’s rays.

First producing sunglasses way back in 1888, Julbo founder Jules Baud started out by creating the ‘Cristalliers’ – sunglasses designed to protect the eyes of the Chamonix crystal hunters as they headed into the high alpine in search of treasure.