Ski Helmets

for me it's more about the fear of others being out of control and hitting me, and me not being able to do anything about it. last year my friend was put in a wheelchair because of some fella who couldn't stop himself, she ended up with nasty head injuries because of not having a helmet on. to be honest i dont think it's worth taking the risk.

Its all about being aware on the slopes, they do not teach that in ski school.

Ian Wickham wrote:Its all about being aware on the slopes, they do not teach that in ski school.

Hi Ian,
I don't like to contradict you, but I have been taught this subject by some of my ski instructors (the better ones, generally speaking). Like, for example, the good ones get you to line up below each other when they stop the group, so that if someone falls as they come in to line up they don't knock anyone else over. And they teach you to be very careful at piste junctions, crossing drag lift lines, not to stop in the middle of the piste, and they insist on making sure you can control your speed. The super good ones make sure you understand and obey the basic right of way rules on the piste.

And if someone in the group is ski-ing dangerously then it's quite likely that another group member will tell them off, even if the instructor doesn't.

Good group lessons become progressively difficult during the week, and no-one should be ski-ing out of control because if they can't cope with the skill level required any decent instructor will either make the lessons easier or move them to a lower group.

I do think there should be a way of penalizing idiots who keep ski-ing out of control - something like speeding tickets where they get their lift pass taken off them for a day or a week. The slopes would be much safer then for the rest of us and people like Charlie_95's friend wouldn't get hurt.

Ally

Ally; definitely agree with you that it should be compulsory to know the right of way rules on the pistes, however i think taking peoples lift passes off of them is a little to extreme as people pay good money for them and it could ruin peoples holidays.

Anyway, relating back to the topic in hand a suggestion would be for ski schools to make inexperienced skiiers wear helmets, because lets be honest inexperienced skiiers pose the greatest risk to others and also themselves. just an idea? let me know what you think?

Charlie_95 wrote:Anyway, relating back to the topic in hand a suggestion would be for ski schools to make inexperienced skiiers wear helmets, because lets be honest inexperienced skiiers pose the greatest risk to others and also themselves. just an idea? let me know what you think?

I'm very sorry Charlie_95, but I am scared to death of mentioning the 'H' word on this forum, and I'm going to get off this thread now as fast as possible :wink: :lol:

Ally

haha! i've seen it can cause some 'heated' debate! )

This is the helmet thread so discuss and get heated as much as you like as long as it is constructive.. I wear a lid, as my Sig says and am proud. If I was a beginner, not because if me but again if others

I can control my behavior but others I can't. I can't control others smacking me on the head with a safety bar in the lift. But then again that only started happening when I wore a lid, common denominator?

Lids are also fashionable, there is no getting away from it. Just many of the lidders won't accept it

I wear because I want to feel safer. Nothing to do with who knows rules if the piste. We all know the speed limit on a motorway is 70mph, but a hell of a lot of people don't obey it.....

Comparing the wearing of a helmet skiing and a seatbelt driving is both ridiculous and irrelevant seeing as if you don't wear a seatbelt you are breaking the law and a complete idiot.

Iceman makes a good point about helmets and fashion. However SOME helmets have been made fashionable, but as he said many lidders don't seem to have grasped that and ski around in some horrendous egg headed helmets, especially the French for some reason.

Ally, all instructors teach us the basics of slope etiquette but Ian's point was that no matter what we all know, there's always some moron who doesn't seem to understand or totally disregards the rules we've been taught. That's where I see many lidders finding comfort in wearing their helmets, from the potential threat of others. Me, I like to ski out of peak dates and believe there is only a tiny risk of someone running into me and therefore have never ever considered the need for a helmet. Also lidders need to remember that wearing a helmet does not make you unbreakable.

Some simple respect for the other people on the slopes and we probably wouldn't even be having this debate.