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Ski Helmets?


PaulB

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forrest_m said:I'm not disputing your facts, it sounds like you've looked into this more than I have... but doesn't this seem a little strange? Just from a common sense perspective, compare that to a bicycle helmet, which is generally cut higher and weighs less, but would seem to be designed for similar sorts of impacts, i.e. being catapulted off the bike and hitting a curb or the street. Hard to believe that the ski helmet is only good to 12 mph...

Here's where I got that figure from:

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/article/2036-2526.html

I was a surprise to me as well. I've nothing against helmets, I own one, I don't mock people for wearing them, I'd just like to see real, non-ancedotal, evidence of their effectiveness - because most of the situation I worry about, they wouldn't be based on the evidence I've seen.

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mattp said:

I have been wondering all morning about just what Schnitzem has said. I won't go so far as to say ski helmets are stoopid, but I do wonder just how necessary they are. A quick google search of "ski injuries" discloses almost no mention of head injuries or the advisability of wearing a helmet, and I would think that for a racer or a kid it might be a good idea but for most of us??? I don't believe I have ever in my life heard of anybody suffering a serious head injury while skiing -- except some Kennedy guy.

 

For comparison, how many of those who are discussing ski helmets would consider wearing a helmet when crag climbing? Just curious.

 

What about the kid who died at Snoqualmie last year riding 50 yards out of bounds crashed, hit his head on a rock, and died. It happens. Similiar thing happened at stevens but the kid lived. I only wear mine if I intend on skiing glades, out of bounds, or double blacks with hazards, exposed rocks, fall zones, etc.

 

And to the guy who said they reduce visibility? These aren't football helmets, goggles reduce much more visibility than helmets.

 

To each his own. I mean, there are people out there that don't wear seat belts while driving and I think that is crazy.

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I have one broken tooth, one broken jaw and one lacerated chin, and really badly sprained ankle from skiing. A helmet would have never save me on these injuries without the big chin guards that some helmets today have.

 

My friends who wear helmets keep bugging me to get one. They say I'll feel more comfortable at speed. But I dont' know if I want to feel more comfortable. I'm more afraid of a bad ankle sprain or a torn ACL than I am of a head injury from going fast.

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Chris T, Forrest, Jon, and Dustin (maybe others too) make some good points here: wearing a helmet MIGHT prevent a head injury, and it really isn't that much of a problem to wear one -- at least at a downhill ski area. I still wonder, though, about the image thing. When I asked "how many of you wear helmets when rock climbing," a few of you answered "always" but aren't there others who are proud to wear a helmet with aerodynamic shapes and paint job when skiing because the helmet signifies the fact that they take risks by skiing fast and jumping over cliffs, while they DON'T wear a helmet when rock climbing because that makes them look like a gaper? Do any of you consider wearing a helmet at Castle Rock the sign of a "mountaineer type," who must be ridiculed at all costs?

 

I'm not against helmets -- honest. There are almost certainly times when a helmet would make a big difference and I gotta commend anybody who wants to be smart in their persuit of recreational sports. I doubt, though, that the guy who skied off a cliff at Alpental would have been saved by a helmet. Be careful, you guys, because I don't think the helmet is going to make skiing safe for you.

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I guess if you are wearing a helmet for leading to help protect a leader fall it would make sense to use one of those biker-type helmets rather than one of the hardshells. I would think the former would provide better protection in blunt trauma, and the latter would be better for dealing with rockfall and stuff in the hills, where there might be multiple hits of sharper things.

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cj001f said:

E-rock said:My friends who wear helmets keep bugging me to get one. They say I'll feel more comfortable at speed.
That is quite possibly the worst reason to buy a helmet - they do little to protect yourself of those types of high energy injuries.

 

I know, I wasn't justifying the logic.

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Pencil_Pusher said:

I'd feel pretty damned stupid if I had to wear one of those ski helmets. I think they look pretty stupid on others at the ski resort. They've only recently come into "popularity", I don't recall seeing them in the 90's.

 

Very good reason not to wear a helemt, yes!

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mattp said:

I still wonder, though, about the image thing. When I asked "how many of you wear helmets when rock climbing," a few of you answered "always" but aren't there others who are proud to wear a helmet with aerodynamic shapes and paint job when skiing because the helmet signifies the fact that they take risks by skiing fast and jumping over cliffs, while they DON'T wear a helmet when rock climbing because that makes them look like a gaper? Do any of you consider wearing a helmet at Castle Rock the sign of a "mountaineer type," who must be ridiculed at all costs?

 

Matt – I always wear a helmet at Castle Rock. I wear one working sport routes at Smith. I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE! And if anyone looks like a gaper with a helmet, it's me. I have this euro version of the petzl meteor, blue with neon yellow computer graphics that makes me look like an extra from the movie Tron. I though climbing was about individuality? I could give a shit if someone else thinks I look dumb.

 

I’m not sure what the difference of opinion is here. Will you stipulate that virtually all activities in life, including walking down the street, would be statistically safer with a helmet on? If so, then it comes down to a personal determination of how much safer and if that added security is worth the inconvenience, discomfort and or other disadvantages of helmets?

 

If I read you correctly, you are saying that you think that many people who otherwise would wear a helmet while climbing are discouraged from doing so because of fashion? I.e., people make this calculation of risk vs. cost, believe that a helmet is the right thing, and yet don’t follow their instinct because they are worried that they will look like a dork? And that further, you believe that this does not apply to skiing because skiing helmets make one appear “hardcore” – that is, in your opinion, most people’s risk vs. cost analysis of skiing is that helmets aren’t worth it, but that some people choose to wear one anyway as a fashion accessory?

 

Obviously, it’s true that many people are overly worried about what others think about them. It’s unfortunate when this overcomes someone’s judgment on safety. Do you think anyone disagrees with this statement?

 

Getting back to ski helmets, I don’t understand how anyone can seriously postulate that they don’t reduce your risk of injury. Of course they don’t eliminate injuries. Duh. You may make an informed choice not to wear one – as I said, I never wear one backcountry skiing because I’d rather throttle back than wear one – but I’m still doing it knowing that I’m increasing my risk. Maybe it’s only a small increase, but I’m not going to try to convince myself that “oh, a helmet wouldn’t do any good anyway.” That's just adolescent rationalization.

 

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Forrest - I agree with just about everything you said. My main point was that fashion or image concerns may lead some people to think helmets are cool at the ski area whereas they are dorky at exit 38 (and for most of us, I think the helmet is probably more important on the crag than on the ski hill). My second point was that, for the kinds of accidents where some people are trying to suggest a helmet would have made a difference - a high speed collision with a lift pole or a tumble off a cliff, the helmets are of limited help.

 

As I indicated already, I agree with you that wearing a helmet in a downhill ski area is easy, probably not uncomfortable, and might make a difference. I do not criticize anyone for wearing a ski helmet but, rather, I am suggesting we think about why we make the decisions that we do. That is all.

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Wachusette! East coast skiers got the skillz from carving on all that boilerplate.

 

Monolpoly no, but if you spend a season there you'll get more ice days that other parts of the country. Sorry, 'loose and frozen granular' yelrotflmao.gif

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