Ski Helmets?

I was a helmet cynic for many years; now I am a helmet convert. I prefer technique to speed as I get older but enjoy the steep and wild from time to time.

Definitely see more people wearing crash hats than not in Swisserland these days - and I just think it's sensibly minimising another risk to life and limb (or my swede!)

You may be a sensible, controlled and sensible skier, but the mountains are a hazardous environment where you cannot legislate for the unexpected or the skills, attitudes and aversion to risk of your fellow slope users.

And, anyway, nothing much looks nerdier than a wooly hat or a baseball cap!

LOTA wrote:

And, anyway, nothing much looks nerdier than a wooly hat or a baseball cap!

Has anyone seen Tony_H around? He's easy to spot, just look for the Pom Pom :D

:P (snigger)

You might be Franz Klammer, but if Eddie the Eagle is about you really want to be wearing a helmet . Iv'e seen someone ski into a rock face and smash there head against it . It shocked other memebers of my group into going to the ski shop and getting a helmet straight away. You can buy one in the uk for under £20(FROM LIDL).

LET THIS BE A WARNING

It's interesting how it's changed is quite a short amount of time. We started arranging big group (20-40 people) ski holidays in 2000, back then I don't think anyone wore a helmet. The first I think must have been about 2002. The following year a couple more, I think I got mine in 2004. Now almost everyone on each trip has a helmet.

Personally I can't see any reason not to wear one. Providing you get one that suits, you can barely feel the weight, the vents stop you getting too warm, you get more protection in bad weather. Mine doesn't effect what I can hear, neither does it effect my vision.

Hello.
Nerdy - bobble hats? Are you actually real?
Coming from people who look like day release with their lids on, thats actually quite funny :mrgreen: 8) )

Seriously, nothing has changed since people began skiing. There is a risk, of course, but whats made it more serious in recent times?
Oh yeah, the media.
Glad I dont read the papers.

No way I don't look like day release I look like a pink and white storm trooper. :P :lol:

With all due respect to those who try to save enough to SKI three times a year. :roll: I've been a Patroller in the Canadian Rockies for 22 years, my kid is a sponsored snowboarder and our family skis/rides 50+ days each season. My kids learned to ski and walk at the same time. :D

While it's debatable if helmets actually save lives in incidents of severe trauma, in the other 99.9% of on-snow accidents they make a significant difference especially with concussions.

Those who yearn for the "good old days" are welcome to do so, nobody's forcing you (yet) to put on on. At one time, hockey helmets and goalie masks were new and I'm sure the same argument was made (but they kinda sounded weird because they had no teeth, actually people with multiple concussions sound weird too).

I wear a helmet, it's light, comfortable and has plenty of air flow when I open the vents.

Rant complete.

IT'S SNOWING, wtf am I doing here? :(

Tony_H wrote:Hello.
Nerdy - bobble hats? Are you actually real?
Coming from people who look like day release with their lids on, thats actually quite funny :mrgreen: 8) )

Seriously, nothing has changed since people began skiing. There is a risk, of course, but whats made it more serious in recent times?
Oh yeah, the media.
Glad I dont read the papers.

Thats exactly the the view I started with when getting back into skiing a couple years ago. But it is incorrect, things have changed. With fatter skis, we are seeking out the powder more and more, often off piste. Also the level of tricks these days are way beyond what we were doing, just 20 years ago. No one, outside of Olympic level skiers, would have imagined the jumps that are common in terrain parks now.

Brad