 Poster: A snowHead
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I don't wear mine for collisions with others (i tend not to have those) but for collisions with rocks hidden by powder, trees etc. I've not actually had such a collision but the risk just does not seem worth it to me.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I've been following this post for a while now with great interest. So many opinions and statistics. Anyway, I've just bought a Giro Nine.9 helmet & Deb's should arrive in a few days.
I'm planning on joining the race training club at my local dryslope and Deb & I are going on a Warren Smith course in the summer.
I know that a helmet doesn't make you invincible but I figured that, excluding the risk of collision, we're at greater risk of an accident when we're trying to learn new things/push ourselves etc.
I'm concerned about the heat of a helmet as I never wear a hat & only wear a headband if it's really cold. Apparently the Giro is one, if not the best vented helmets on the market so hopefully I'll be ok.
If I don't get too hot I'll certainly wear it all the time. If I end up a bit hot I think I'll end up balancing comfort & inherant risk (skiing off piste / trees / couloirs etc) in deciding when I'll wear it.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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spyderjon, i never get too hot in mine and find it supremely comfortable. It is so light that i forget that it is there (apart from the occasion clonk on the head as a chairlift bar is brought down and i forget that my head is bigger than normal)
I would recommend that if your wife's/girlfriend's head is a slightly different shape from yours and the Giro Nine does not feel comfy, send it back and try another.
Helmets are just like boots - getting the one that is the right internal shape for you is the most important factor.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Quote: |
ladies' front bottoms wearing helmets.
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I don't understand the meaning of this quote. Was the writer refering to something or someone? Is Martyn blue skier on a red or black run? Did you run the perp down? You can stop this sort of sillyness. Turn him over to the piste patrol. Oh yes, I wear a helmut when skiing trees but on on the piste.
Jean 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Jean Claude Mogul, welcome to snowHeads. Are you another ambassador from Epic?
As to your quote, not only do I not understand it, I can't find it!
You suggest turning some skiing reprobate over to the PistePatrol.
I understand that such an agency exists in the USA. It does not in Europe.
(If is does exist, it has never patrolled any of the pistes I've skied on).
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Like Matteo, I dislike repeating myself, so below is what I recently wrote in a thread on NELSAP:
At some level, everyone makes a cost-benefit analysis about helmets. Here's mine:
POSSIBLE COSTS:
-> The actual purchase price is negligible compared to other skiing expenditures.
-> Personally, I don't think they look bad or geeky at all.
-> I find no significant reduction in hearing what's going on around me.
-> It causes absolutely no inconvenience or annoyance in my normal skiing routine. About the only time it's not on my head while I'm on this snow is if I'm teaching level 1 never-evers on a warm day, and I know I will be doing a lot of walking around / skating on the flats (ie, before they have taken their 1st lift ride). In this situation, I temporarily stash my helmet and gloves somewhere so I don't overheat.
-> Wearing one doesn't make me feel invincible and suddenly make me do seriously risky things.
-> I'm an adult, so the extra weight of a helmet isn't going to significantly increase the chance of whiplash-type injury.
BENEFITS:
-> Will reduce the severity of all head impacts/abrasions/penetrations, but not by an adequate factor in the most severe cases. Works wonderfully in annoying little hits (eg, somebody puts the safety bar down without asking, etc.)
-> Extremely comfortable: On a cold, windy day, with the vents closed , helmets are usually much warmer than any hat; as it warms up, I open the vents, and on really warm spring days, I usually switch to my bicycle helmet.
-> For me, helmets leave my hair in much better shape than any hat I've ever used.
-> Helmets are a convenient, one-carrying-strap recepticle for keeping gloves, goggles & other misc. items together when you take a break.
-> All the other misc. benefits already mentioned earlier in this thread.
CONCLUSION:
For me, this is a very easy decision - virtually no costs and reasonable benefits.
When I read over threads like this one, usually there is no real difference of opinion between knowledgable users and knowledable non-users about how well helmets work. Sensible users don't claim they will prevent every death, and reasonable non-users don't say that helmets do nothing.
Rather, in my experience, when an experienced skier is against using a helmet, it's either because they have strong opinions on style, or because they haven't tried one for long enough to figure out how to incorporate it in their personal skiing routine without it being an inconvenience. For example, they will try one that doesn't have appropriate ventilation for the weather, become too hot, keep wanting to take it off, not realize that they can use it to carry other items, so they wind up with more objects to carry, not fewer, etc.
Anyway, there's my $0.02 on the subject.
Tom / PM
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Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Tue 1-06-04 7:00; edited 1 time in total
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Physicsman - great summing up of the positive aspects.
what's the situation for children in ski school in the US? Is wearing a helmet compulsory, or "highly recommended" as in France?)
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PG - Compulsory helmet use certainly varies from ski school to ski school. Mine (Whitetail, PA) does not require it, but recommends it, and has lots of helmets for rent in our "Kids' Mountain Camp" program. I think that this policy is fairly common in the USA.
OTOH, compulsory usage mandated by state legislation (vs by a ski school policy) has certainly been discussed, but I don't think it has been written into the law in any state in the USA. Unfortunately, I'm embarrassed to admit that I haven't been paying much attention to the political goings-on in other states with respect to this issue.
Tom / PM
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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PG, PM Compulsory helmet wear has become a law of the State here in Italy, for children under age 14 (or 15, don't remember).
Negligible costs? Hmmm, I don't know, I have to change helmets for my children this year (and probably boots as well), will tell you, what effect the law will have on helmet prices (what happened with motorbike helmets when they became compulsory was that the prices skyrocketed).
As for me, children first, and when they are all equipped (helmets, googles, boots, clothes) the € left doesn't amount to much. So dad will wait another year...and his equipment get older and older (12 y.o. Tecnica tnt, 5 y.o. voelkl p40 f1), no helmet.
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Makes sense. I was thinking that the main French ski school (ESF) may hesitate to change from "highly recommended" to compulsory because of fears that they might lose business, but if it became a law that would solve the problem.
Then again, can't be easy to enforce in Italy, some younger children look 16, and vice versa...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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It all depends on the parents, after all, right?
Mine were wearing an helmet long before it became a law.
It was dad's law, as it was dad's law to fasten seat belts in the car (or I wouldn't even start the engine).
Thanks PG for such a fine remark, a less wordly person would comment that in Italy people don't care about laws anyway...
But yes, without parental "help", it will be difficult for children that are bordering
the age limits. Yet again, laws aren't perfect, but sometimes necessary, the important thing is not to fall in the "over-regulate every aspect of life" trap.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Matteo, it's funny - my dad made us wear seatbelts from birth too - at a time when it wasn't common in the UK. It only has to save your life once.
I guess I have an inconsistent attitude on these things - I cycle to work everyday but don't wear a helmet - even though I know I should. I use all the excuses outlined above: it will be uncomfortable, it will be too hot, it will make me reckless, it's an extra thing to carry...
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I never go on the bike without a helmet - a good helmet is not uncomforatable, and a good helmet will make your head cooler as it channels the airflow. if you buy a £20 half-melon though, it will rub and the lack of hoels will make youfeel like you;re riding inside a sauna
I will get a snow helmet when I find one in my size in stock. I'm *not* ordering over the intrweb
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You know it makes sense.
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I have sugggested helmet sto my teens, but as usual they looked at me like I had 2 heads, thin is they wouldn't go out on their bicycles without them , as we have always insisted they wear them, and now it's second nature to do so.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Helen Beaumont, i would have thought that a helmet was becoming de rigeur for any fashion conscious teen wanting to be seen as a 'serious' skier/boarder. Start to suggest that they'll look like wusses who only ski easy pistes if they are not wearing one, and they'll soon start pestering you to buy the latest model.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Tony Lane wrote: |
| Helen Beaumont, i would have thought that a helmet was becoming de rigeur for any fashion conscious teen wanting to be seen as a 'serious' skier/boarder. Start to suggest that they'll look like wusses who only ski easy pistes if they are not wearing one, and they'll soon start pestering you to buy the latest model. |
If you look at a lot of the sponsored riders and various cool guys in the European ski mags they mostly wear helmets.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Look at it another way - the majority of skiers still who wear helmets are kids who ski quite slowly.
I continue to wear my helmet and have no illusions whatsoever, it will not prevent me from most injuries, so I'm not going to ski any faster because I have it on. Most injuries are to lower arms and knees, so skiing faster because I have a helmet on makes this more likely to happen, it does not make me safer.
The decision for me starting to wear a helmet was after the guy in the room next to us didn't wake up in the morning, after a low speed fall on the nursery slope, no-one else involved. I believe my helmet has prevented me from more than one head injury, the first was stationary, I was on a train and hit by a pair of skis, the next was almost stationary, I side slipped sideways, hit a bump and fell, the first bit to hit the ground was my head.
But what happened to the previous post - it's gone!!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Jane L wrote: |
| Look at it another way - the majority of skiers still who wear helmets are kids who ski quite slowly. |
They do? Are you sure about that?! 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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ise, some sort of armoured corset required, perhaps? 
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Ian, already got one - wouldn't go anywhere without it.
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| ise wrote: |
| PG wrote: |
| Jane L wrote: |
| Look at it another way - the majority of skiers still who wear helmets are kids who ski quite slowly. |
They do? Are you sure about that?! |
I'm often concerned about being hit by a a child of around my waist height wearing a helmet  |
Saw it happening (sort of, I arrived after the fact), in Champoluc, this past feb.
A girl in her teens was skiing down a wide flattish end part of a slope, and crashed helmeted head first in the rear left side of a lady (between spine and kidney).
The one who was complaining most abut pain was the girl, but both refused my suggestion to wait for the patrol (I use patrol in a loose way, there are no "patrollers" in the American meaning in Italy, "just" real Policemen and Carabinieri) and be checked by a medical trained person.
Both nodded vogorously at my suggestion to go and see a doctor at least, and both skied off. I still wonder what happened next. Not being an MD and lacking apparent damages (like blood or torn limbs...) I managed to have the girl sit down for maybe 10-15 minutes, and the lady too, but lacking any "official" label I could do nothing more, could I?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Matteo, the female left rear side is well padded. No need to worry about teen missile or target lady.
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To supplement PM's list, DRAWBACKS to helmets:
- Wide-templed sunglasses may be uncomfortable, depending on model.
- Goggle fit is far more of an issue, e.g. the helmet now has a hard edge that can push googles down your nose.
- They bulk far more than hats in your luggage. If you travel a lot, and only have one helmet, make sure the jawguard is removeable at least.
- Half-height helmets might as well be hats on tree runs.
- Jawguards catch branches and shove them up your nose.
If you conclude from the above that I use 3 different helmets, you'd be absolutely correct.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Jonpim wrote: |
| Matteo, the female left rear side is well padded. No need to worry about teen missile or target lady. |
ehe  I like that king of padding!
Unfortunately the "impact point" was above said padding, roughly at kidney height...
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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The most benefit of a helmet would be to wear one and not ski as if you wearing it.
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FAQ
