Hellmets, are they cool?

C

CWHappyRN

New member
:roll: I want to talk about helmets. I have been skiing since latency years as a kid. Admittedly, I used to ski without one, even race without one and medal without one. I used to think that they were cool, but, parents did not buy one for me, had no job. Now, I think that theyare essential. Yes, I am a nurse, emergency room nurse at that, across the street from a very busy ski resort. Yes, I am a ski patrol. Yes, I have been a traveling nurse and seen crazy things in states with no helmut laws on motorcycles?????? Yes, I am a crazy Californian with Finnish roots and ancestry! So, it is troubling that not more skiers wear helmets.

I have now purchased several helmuts for different kinds of weather, warm, temperate and frigid. They were not expensive except the warm cold weather helmet.

E=MC squared on your head, or mine for daring to bring up the subject.

I ski with a local woman who went over the side of the hill, no chains, and acts like a kid, at best. She was one of the first introduced to me at Mt. Baldy, where I patrol.

I have decided to be vocal about these issues! (Inspired by course in politics required for my Master's degree now!)Carol
 
While helmets may not be "cool" I agree they're essential, and you can make them cool with phunky stickers... I won't ski without one. I like the park, I like air, I even grind rails once in a while, and I don't understand all the people in the park that grind on METAL or go for big air and don't have a helmet on. I teach so I'm on the mountain alot and it's incredible how many close calls I see between heads (no helmet) and rails, or hits between heads and rails. Also, why would anyone go in the trees without a helmet? Especially in a tight pine forest if you're going out of the glades a bit to find fresh snow, with my helmet and goggles I don't even notice stray branches. Yet, I see people in the woods all of the time without helmets too. It's just gotten to the point of bizzarre, and an $70 helmet is alot cheaper than medical bills that could have been easily prevented just by wearing a helmet. Plus there nice a warm!
 
As my friend used to say when riding his motorcycle in states that have no helmet laws, "people who don't wear helmets have nothing worth protecting."

I did not think of wearing a helmet while skiing until the Sonny Bono accident. That, combined with the statistics that the majority of serious skiing accidents are caused by skier to skier collisions, sent me right to the ski shop where I promptly purchased head bowls for the entire family. I have had many more close calls at speed with other skiers than I ever had with trees or rocks -- at least the trees and rocks stay put. In other words, as good as you might be, you've got no control over what someone else might do near you.

With new helmet designs and ventilation, there is absolutely no reason not to be wearing one.

I was disappointed to see that there was no helmet requirement in the X-Games last week. Of all places where kids might be influenced, seeing those guys 30 feet above a bullet-proof half pipe or flying hundreds of feet in the are during slope style was silly.

At Loon, where I usually ski, the freestyle and racing teams require helmets. Also, anyone signed up in their kids programs must have a helmet.
 
I started wearing a helmet 10 years ago after I was gabbing with a group of snowboarders at A-basin and noticed that every one of them was wearing a helmet. We were skiing the same terrain, they were 1/2 my age and knew that they would live forever, and yet they felt they needed helmets. What was I thinking! I bought a helmet.

Since then, the helmet has probably saved my skull a few times. The first day I wore it, I fell in a fresh-snow-on-ice covered parking lot and smacked my head HARD! No problem... In a lodge stairway a little girl dropped her skis directly on my head--the helmet absorbed the substantial impact. I have smacked my head on ice bumps more than once. And I have found them reassuring to wear when driving from a ski area in blinding snowstorms. In fact, I may start wearing it to management meetings at work.':!:'

Anymore, when I ski without a helmet, I feel naked.

Cheers,
Jeff
 
aaron12345":3o6w9jj7 said:
I agree they're essential
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I disagree... important, but I wouldn't put them in the essential category.

I bought a helmet this year for when I race in a Masters race, but I still freeski without one. I believe that wearing a helmet is a personal choice and I wouldn't tell anyone if they should or shouldn't wear one.

My 8 yr old has one (started last year), my 3 yr old doesn't.

Sure there is alot of accidents and head injuries, but it's always a question of odds. The percentage of head injuries (outside snowparks for skiers) is, I believe, fairly low. It all depends if you ski or snowboard, ski the groomers or the woods, ski in a snowpark or not and your abilities...

Okay...now, who is going to flame me. :?
 
No flames.... I'm in the park alot, and when I'm not I usually find a way to get air on the groomers. If I'm at a mountain with glades, I'm there. And if there are real bumps (ice and slush just aren't any fun), I'm skiing them. I do see your point though that while I think helmets tend to make sense, it depends what you're skiing. Park, and moguls are easy enough to get inverted and land on your neck, and trees have those annoying things called branches. However that still doesn't change the fact that on groomers you never know who's flying by out of control behind you, or the snowboarder trying to jump over you.
 
A skier was killed last week at Wachusett Mountain here in Massachusetts. He was a very experienced skier and very familiar with the trail he was skiing (He had been a season passholder for over 10 years at this mountain).

A young skier ahead of him took an unexpected turn into his path. The decedent was forced to swerve to avoid a collision that would have seriously injured or killed the youngster. His ski released, he spun around and went into the woods backwards. The ski patrol believes he was killed instantly.

He was not wearing a helmet at the time.
 
remydog":3vy6iky4 said:
A skier was killed last week at Wachusett Mountain here in Massachusetts. He was a very experienced skier and very familiar with the trail he was skiing (He had been a season passholder for over 10 years at this mountain).

He was not wearing a helmet at the time.
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I heard someone last year at Ste.Anne that died, also with many years experience, but he was hearing a helmet.

You often hear about someone being killed and that they weren't hearing a helmet at that time. A lot of people and media mentioned it when something like this happens, I don't know specifically if a helmet would have save the person life in Wachusett, but it many cases the helmet wouldn't made a different. Helmets aren't design to withstand a collision with a tree at x mph. Helmet are good to prevent head injuries, but aren't necessarly design to save your life. The average speed of skiers is far greater that what a helmet is design to withstand.

aaron12345":3vy6iky4 said:
However that still doesn't change the fact that on groomers you never know who's flying by out of control behind you, or the snowboarder trying to jump over you.
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One of the most important senses in skiing is earing and vision. Unfortunately I find that with a helmet, I personally lose a slight part of that.
 
It depends on the helmet. That's why I like my giro 9 - I don't loose hearing or vision (I know some of them I tried on I did). One other thing that most people don't think about is with most goggles you loose about 20% of your peripheral vision - I know when I'm skiing backwards I never have goggles on unless absolutley necessary because without them I can see way more than with them. But I agree you can avoid alot of things just by listening for the screaamm. One other thing is that with headphones - it gets a bit harder to listen to that scream.
 
aaron12345":3fuvfd37 said:
But I agree you can avoid alot of things just by listening for the screaamm.
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I'm generally aware of people around me without the scream. I can hear them ski. However this sound is definately greater in the East than the West. :wink:

I also tend to look around much more (blind spot, etc), you can blame it on a collision I had 19 years ago :roll: ... so I'm might be a bit paranoid about being hit by an out-of-control skiers/boarders.

This skill is very useful for anyone that has even skied in France went approaching the bottom of a lift or at a trail intersection. :?
 
If you get the right helmet it won't diminish your field of vision or really impact your hearing any more than a beanie would. True, the odds of you needing a helmet to are low and if you ski to your ability level your are a little safer. BUT...what if someone else hits you and puts you into a tree?

People collide all the time and just last week a man was killed at Beaver Creek when he was hit by somebody and pushed into a tree. His skull was crushed and guess what...no helmet. Who cares if they are cool, who cares if you like them. They are warmer and safer.
 
skierhj":1pf7n1ms said:
he was hit by somebody and pushed into a tree. His skull was crushed and guess what...no helmet.
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Would a helmet have save his life? Stories that I heard in the East, regarding a full impact head against tree, a helmet isn't going to save your life. Story I related above of a man dying at Ste. Anne did have a helmet.

skierhj":1pf7n1ms said:
Who cares if they are cool, who cares if you like them. They are warmer and safer.
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I never said they weren't cool, however I'm sometimes tired of hearing that the helmet IS the great solution in reducing casualties on the hill. Personnally I find that the helmet is a personnal choice, but the ultimate decision should be left to the skier/boarder, however I could see a reason why it could get mandatory in snowpark (ie. a Quebec study shows that the serious injuries occur in them).
 
Patrick":x6y6gvqv said:
skierhj":x6y6gvqv said:
... I'm sometimes tired of hearing that the helmet IS the great solution in reducing casualties on the hill. ...but the ultimate decision should be left to the skier/boarder
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I pretty much agree with these points. I do believe that helmets reduce injuries overall, but one should regard them as a tool that can help during some but not all accidents. The physics of collisions make it an unavoidable fact that brain damage is certain for collisions above a critical velocity. Moreover, for some collisions the helmet may save the brain, but the vertebrae are crushed. Since most collisions are glancing blows, the helmet gives the skier a better chance to avoid serous injury--as long as neck injuries are avoided.

Because I am not a groomed snow skier, I prefer helmets for comfort and head protection. I haven't attributed any constriction of my vision field to the helmet--most impairment seems to be from the eyewear, which for me is essential. The helmet does diminish hearing some, but I can still hear approaching skiers--at least in the East (As a NE skier once said: "If you can't hear it, it ain't snow.)

Cheers,
Jeff
 
I agree... helmets are a tool. They help... alot. But they are not the end all be all and they DO NOT PREVENT NECK AND SPINAL INJURIES. One down side about helmets is sometimes people put them on and they feel invincible. I still think the positives outway the negatives, personally I always wear one but I don't think they should be required on the mountain in general, however a helmet requirement to do rails in the park, especially at the south east resorts with first time snowboarders attempting rails when they can't even make proper turns would save the local ski patrol ALOT of work...
 
Patrick":mnymqak3 said:
:cry:

This story showed up in the Ski News section:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/ ... _accident/

I hate bringing this up, but the lady was wearing a helmet. Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, helmet protection is limited. :cry:

All my condeslences to her family, friends and students.
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This is getting silly. People die wearing safety equipment all the time. They die in car accidents wearing seatbelts. They fall off of cliffs when they have proper ropes and harnesses.

Skiing involves certain risks of injuries. Some of those injuries, the more serious ones, involve head injuries. Further, the results of those inuries can be permanent disability and impairment. Helmets are proven to minimize and prevent many of these. Your percentages don't diminish to zero because you wear a helmet, but they do go down substantially, enough to more than justify wearing one. (They also help when someone whacks you in the head because they don't know how to carry a pair of skis in a crowd.)

Have a look at these stats on bicycle helmets: http://www.helmets.org/stats.htm

They have this to say about ski helmets:
http://www.helmets.org/skicrash.htm

"In 1998, there were more than 16,000 head injuries associated with skiing and snowboarding. CPSC estimates that each year more than 7,000 head injuries could be prevented or reduced in severity with helmet use."

"These injuries can be devastating," said CPSC Chairman Ann Brown, "Simply strapping on a helmet before hitting the slopes can save your life. Just as bicyclists do, skiers and snowboarders should get the helmet habit."

Technology has come a long way since 1998. If you haven't tried a helmet lately, you have no idea how good they are in terms of visibility, weight, ventilation and sound transfer. I find the limit to my peripheral vision is my goggles, not my helmet.

Just as Look'n4powder said, helmets are a tool, just one tool. Other steps to avoiding injuries -- look uphill on every turn and know who is around you, especially if you are turning out of the fall line; stay in control and be perpared to stop on a dime; stay off of terrain that is significantly above your ability; be certain your bindings are set correctly and your equipment is in good condition; turn down (or off) the music in your headphones; stop talking on the radio, your cell phone or videotaping your run while you are trying to ski; don't stop where skiers above you can't see you.

As a partial aside, the one time people, and especially kids, almost always fail to look up hill is when they are following someone else. When the lead person stops, say, across a trail, they simply cross without thinking. I am constantly warning my kids to avoid this false sense of security.

MSK
 
I agree that helmets are essential today. The reason they are essential is because the average skier tries to ski like Bode Miller but has no control over his/her skis or board. I think the real discussion here should be why Ski Patrolers don't pull out of control skiers aside and educate him/her on the potential hazards that a skier may cause. Knowledge is power.
 
Helmets are great in my book. I used to be the I'll never wear a helmet type. All it took was one good whack and I went right to my local shop to get one, now I can't imagine riding without it. Plus it's great in the VT trees where it gets tight sometimes (no branches to the head).
Plus the new designs are great and looking better all the time. Mine looks just like a skate helmet, I can even plug the I pod right into the ear pieces.
 
jsul185":28kfupf5 said:
I agree that helmets are essential today. The reason they are essential is because the average skier tries to ski like Bode Miller but has no control over his/her skis or board. I think the real discussion here should be why Ski Patrolers don't pull out of control skiers aside and educate him/her on the potential hazards that a skier may cause. Knowledge is power.
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Thank you! I'll take my chances with trees, rocks, cliffs, and other inanimate objects. I wear my helmet because I'm worried about the out of control slider who couldn't avoid hitting me if they tried to.

My favorites are the ones who decide to traverse at high, out of control speed across a bump field directly into my line and then stop or fall.
These are the same folks who invoke the skier responsibility code when they get scared when I ski by, totally forgetting I just saved them from injury because I can control where my skis go.
 
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