May 16, 2011
Q: Can I wear my contacts in the mountains?
IMG Guide (and recent Everest Summitter) Max Bunce enjoying a cucumber on the Muir Snowfield.
A: Absolutely. A lot of our guides wear contacts in the mountains without issue. You’ll have to be careful when putting them in and will need to keep the solution container close to your body to keep it warm. Cleanliness can be a problem but diligence pays off in the end. If you can wear them for multiple days then that makes it even easier, but bring a back up in case you have issues with your primary pair.
Now, for those of you who wear glasses and are unable to wear contacts, prescription glacier glasses might be a good option. If you see yourself doing a lot of climbing it is probably worth the investment – it sure beats trying to wear goggles and glasses at the same time. www.opticus.com is a good place to get a pair – not a cheap solution (~$300) but worth their weight in gold when compared to the alternative.
Tye Chapman
**Update: June 17, 2013
Please see advice from IMG Partner Eric Simonson on using contacts or prescription eye wear in IMG’s Rainier FAQ.
**Update: May 26, 2011
Contacts wearer and friend of IMG, Luke Torres, adds:
Let me add to what you wrote by recommending the one a day disposable contacts. The contacts are good for a single day’s use. After that you simply throw them away. The next day you open the package for a new contact and pop it into your eye (although I forgot a mirror on one of my trips and the absence of a mirror made putting the new lense in my eye difficult — I used my mirrored sunglasses). No cleaning, solutions, etc. to worry about. Each contact costs about a dollar so for the 6 to 10 contacts you need for a typical Rainier trip you’re looking at about $6 to $10.