It’s funny the ways you remember people long gone, family, the adventure friends on the big powder fields in the sky. Sometimes, little things trigger it. The color of a backpack. Pompom hats, trashed leather gloves, the tie of a bandana. The tint of my sunglasses, and the brand.
In the case of my 70s-80s climbing and skimo buddy Rich Jack, a gear review opened the memory gate.
While rowing through the email deluge, I ran across a media blast regarding Vuarnet sunglasses. Specifically, the newish Ice 01, a deluxe shade replete with optically superior mineral glass, side shields, color schemes galore, and convertible temples (straight or behind the ear). Interesting.
When the time for unboxing came, the Ice 01’s round lenses and my preferred all-black motif looked cool — when your wife says you look hip, it’s time for an embarrassingly long glance in the mirror (despite a strong suspicion she’s joking). Yet beyond vanity, what came unbidden to my mind was Rich with his ever-present Vuarnet cateye sunglasses. Out for a day of climbing or skiing, every few hours he’d gently pull the specs from his face, tilt his head back, breathe a careful fog onto the glass, then polish with ritualistic precision using a shirt cuff or tail. During rock climbs and ski tours, there was no more profanity-inspiring event than a dropped pair of cateyes (we often used them naked, no retainer). Rich would rather have lost his wallet than his shades.
I loved my Vuarnets as well. Not to the extent of Rich’s caresses, but be it the incandescent granite of El Cap, or the retina-frying snows of the Colorado fourteeners, there was and is nothing like Vuarnet tint. Enter the state-of-the-art Vuarnet — Ice 01.
Fit
I’m okay with the way most sunglasses ride, 01 no exception. My only gripe is a default. The round lens. With little wraparound lens shape (if any), the side shields create noticeable peripheral blockage. I got used to it, but still prefer wraps for active sports. And yet, I’ll play the style victim now and then.
Construction
Removable side shields, check. Fully adjustable-bendable temples check. Weight, reasonable. And the “mineral glass.” What exactly is that? Turns out it’s just glass, with an added heat treatment to the lens surfaces for scratch resistance and strength. So, it’s glass. Thus, if you need enhanced protection (e.g., mechanical work, hunting, tree skiing, etc.), a better choice might be composite lens glasses such as the Vuarnet Altitude. Any other time, the clarity of optically perfect glass is addictive and perhaps essential.
Vision
I chose the Skilynx tint, a brownish shade that’s European standard “3,” one step below “very dark.” Vuarnet claims Skilynx is a “special coating we apply to both sides of our mineral lenses to protect you from extreme lighting conditions. Skilynx lenses protect you from both the sun’s rays and the reflection of light of the sun, especially on snow. Ideal for snow sports.”
While the nearest autumn snow patch was far away during this write, I did evaluate the Skilynx tint under the brilliance of our 6,000-foot elevation Colorado Sol, bounced off our white-on-white house siding. Glare reduction was best-in-class for a non-polarized lens. What’s more, when it came to shadows, the Skilynx was downright clairvoyant. It is indeed a dark tint, but at the moment I’m sitting at my desk with them on, merrily slapping my keyboard as I read my notebook scrawls. Maybe the tint color interacts with visual perception? Maybe it’s the double coating? I don’t know. What I do know is that my contrast vision is mud (botched cataract surgery, don’t ask)—maybe Skilynx will help?
Legend
As the story goes, a Parisian optician, Roger Pouilloux invented the Skilynx tint in 1957. A few years later, he convinced champion ski racer Jean Vuarnet to wear the newly minted shades for his Squaw Valley Olympic downhill run. (I thought downhillers always wore goggles. But, who knows?) After winning gold in the downhill, Vuarnet teamed up with Pouilloux, and they launched the brand that spawned the ethos of deluxe alpine eyewear.
Accessories
Yes, they came with a case—and a cleaning cloth. Promise, I’ll forgo my shirt tail.
And, let the memories roll.
Rich and I clocked a sweet list of climbs and ski days during our 1970s-1980s partnership. We teamed for our first El Cap route, and there’s an eponymous line we made on the Diamond face of Colorado’s Longs Peak. Our second ascent of the Hallucinogen Wall in the Black Canyon was a hit (the first ascenders left a scary reputation in their wake, a pitch or two of A5 nailing, and more than one bit of 5.11). In 1980 we spent a few months in Peru and Chile, where we chased a couple of mountains we never summited, and then camped in a snowcave we hacked from the plow berm in the shadow of the yellow hotel. Rich is gone now (motorcycle). But we were always friends, something you could tell by our matching Vuarnets, buffed to a shine.
Price: $395.00
Lenses: Brownlynx. Category 3, UV Protection: 100%, Infra-red: 93%, Visible Light absorption: 90%, Harmful Blue Light: 97%
Sideshield(s): Yes
Removable bridge insert: Yes
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