Cooped Up? Get Uncooped.

Face masks for skiing and snowboarding can be pretty annoying. It seems that it takes the perfect positioning to get the mask to the point where it fully protects while maintaining fog-free goggles. Move it up or to the right ever-so-slightly and you're fogged in seconds.

Gusting, 0-degree winds numbing every inch of your face are even more annoying. So are little ice balls pelting you mercilessly. So the face mask can be a necessary evil.

Perhaps fogging doesn't have to be an issue. Check out the Cold Avenger from Talus. Instead of full fleece, the mask uses medical grade plastic over your mouth and nose to keep you breathing without the fogging. The mask is also supposed to warm and humidify the air that your breathing in, so you don't choke on the cold, dry intake.

Function aside, this thing looks pretty damn cool. Imagine how scary you'd look with dark goggles/sunglass, a black hat and this thing on. Pure terror.

I got one of these bad boys to test out and if the temperature ever drops from the May-like 65 we've been experiencing lately, I'll report back on how it works for snowboarding. I hope to have good news in both fog-free goggles and the scaring the bejesus out of little children departments.

• face
• masks
• Talus
• cold
• Avenger
• snowboarding
• skiing
• ski
• accessories