Dare I say Helmet debate?

A snowHead

Do you accept that a helmet absorbs an impact?

Somewhere along the scale, a 'force 9' impact will cause concussion, a 'force 10' will cause brain damage. The amount of force that the helmet takes, would, at some stage, keep you on the concussion side.

Go headfirst into a tree at 50mph, it's probably not going to do much. At 25mph (hypothesising here, may as well be X speed), a helmet could be the difference between concussion and brain damage - but there's too many variables in the real world to do an accurate scientific study on it.

You're right though, this has been done to death in the past.

A snowHead

The picture of brian's helmet (no laughing at the back) that was posted with the rock stuck in it was enough to convince me that wearing a helmet is a good idea. Anyone got the pic handy?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Good timing, someone's done a test:

http://www.skinet.com/skiing/content/tested-smith-vantage

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Dr John, Ahh but the control honeydew was clearly overripe and the helmeted one would clearly be internally scrambled etc etc. Quite impressive but shame it doesn't show the actual damage to the helmet from the fall.

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If you don't mind wearing a helmet and have experience of head injury whilst skiing then, by all means wear one but don't tell others they should too

In 25 years of skiing at least two weeks every year with a "steeper, faster, deeper the better" attitude, I have never hit my head hard enough to leave me even slightly dazed, maybe I'm lucky, maybe I'm good at avoiding trouble but I also hate wearing hats of any kind, so I really resent the elf n safffty pc crew and the helmet marketing machine telling me I should wear one.

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tangowaggon, too right, but no-one's doing that here...

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dual regulator climate control.... or 2 vents... i love an advert

After all it is free

Last season with a group of guests we stopped to watch the "fun" at the air-pillow jump in the snow park above Belle Plagne. A couple of weeks earlier I had three youngsters with me and their dad paid for them to have a go and the pictures of their back flips were just brilliant although first time down one of them started backwards a bit early and nearly caught his head on the end of the ramp. We watch a few attempts and it was all looking good until a young woman stepped up to the line. She put her hands on her thighs and set off not looking that confident. She back-flipped too early and hit her head hard on the end of the ramp. I moved the guests on quickly but on the way back up the hill we looked across and noticed the medics in attendance and the pillow deflated. She wasn't wearing a helmet.

Skied with some ex-guests two seasons ago. We always wear helmets but they didn't. The guy had skied for 30 years plus and didn't feel he needed to. After we left them to go home at the end of the day and only 100m from his chalet he fell and was concussed. He now wears a helmet.

Bringing a guest down a bumpy steep area in Les Arcs we were well to the side of the piste when I was hit by a boarder so hard at boot level the first thing that hit the piste was my head. Took me about five minutes before I recovered. It was a strange feeling hitting my head that hard inside my helmet but I must say I was glad I had it on. Having witnessed this the guest got herself a helmet the next day.

Watching an ESF instructor with no helmet teaching children all wearing helmets a guest approached the instructor and asked why the difference? All he got in reply was a French style shrug. Do I also wear armour and back protector? After falling and separating my shoulder because of a moments inattention; yes I do. For a recommendation please buy British and check out Forcefield Body Armour of Northampton.

I ski for 18 weeks a season so I suppose I'm more likely to see and experience a wider range of events but I personally wouldn't ski without a helmet or armour.

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I got one this year and i must say i am not a huge fan, But i got one because on a trip to glenshhe febuary 2010 my uncle went over his tips and landed on his head, we were going no great speed and it looked a soft comical fall, It was only when he did not move or star laghing we realised something was a miss. He could not move a thing from his neck down. The ski patrol came and got him loaded up and took him into the first aid centre using a vacuum stretcher, he was transfered to aberdeen hospital. He stayed in aberdeen for 6 weeks undergoing tests and physio, It looked very grim as there was still no movement, and they confirmed his neck was broken but could not say how badly the spinal chord was dmaged because of swelling. He was then transfered to pinderfields speacialist unit when he was well enough to be transfered by air ambulance after a month or so in there of constant work and physio feelings started to come back into his toes and fingers.by september he could get himself about in a wheelchair and by christmas was walking with a frame, He is now able to walk with a stick anlhough very steadily. His hands and feet are still very slow and his senses much reduced but he is getting there. My point is though every doctor we spoke to from the first aid room to pinderfields said had he been wearing a helmet he would have been ok, for two reasons, firstly his head would have skidded as opposed to digging into the snow and secondly absorbing the impact that waas enough to break a vertabrae and displace two more.
I know i wear mine now its not great but better than being like my uncle who will never be right.

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Can you die from second hand helmet?

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You know it makes sense.

Wild guess work not sure about, lots of scans x rays etc all coming to the same conclusion, I know they are not great to wear and had i not seen this first hand and been there as it happened probably would not be wearing one myself. But i am now and i do think its worth it. not trying to tell anyone what to do at all just looks a sensible option to me.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Sorry forgot to add did not mean would have got away scott free but there would not have been the same impact on his skull to force the break and displacement and leading to spinal chord damage and swellings.

A snowHead

seems to me that everyoen who wears a helmet seems to be involed in or witness a level of carnage that non helmet wearers somehow manage to avoid..

A snowHead

Good observation CANV CANVINGTON.

We started because our company at the time insisted but I'd never go back now. On the comfort debate my wife is just about as fidgety, fussy fiddler as exists but now she wears her helmet every time she skis. When you choose one you have to try on loads to find just the one but when you find the right one you just know.

I wear a buff under mine and it is just soooooooo cosy wink

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

gravystuffing, could be that all the non helmet wearers who have seen such 'carnage' are all dead wink

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CANV CANVINGTON. Maybe it makes you realise its a good safe idea? seeing someone laid out on a stretcher fearing they may never move from the neck down again makes you think a minor inconveniance would be a better option, it might not be guarenteed to stop this but am pretty sure it will help.

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ummm... helmets help with spinal injuries?
Puzzled

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I have decided that on warm sunny days I will not wear a helmet.

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After all it is free

I am amazed that skiers/ boarders would consider NOT wearing a helmet, but maybe I am biased..............!!

Event 1 - 2 years ago knocked off my motorbike when doing 15mph - random car pulled out into traffic and hit me - full on face-plant on the tarmac road, brand new £450 ARAI full face helmet written off high impact bash and major scratching (broken wrist and bennetts fracture to thumb) but I firmly believe the helmet saved my life. Its sits in my cupboard and I see it most days as a reminder of whats important............ good gear that is!!

Event 2 - 2 months ago, Mont Gele, Verbier - off piste and ski hit a rock buried under the snow, catapulted over and lost my ski, which shot through the powder and hit back of my POC helmet - severe dent, better the helmet than my head though eh?

How many KH's do you see on piste skiing far too close, too fast, drunk?..............for me its a no-brainer (or could have been above), plus they're warm (too warm at times), even on sunny warm days mine stays on, 100% committed to it!! Very Happy

I still haven't found one I like. Why do they look a bit like something from a World War 2 movie?

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CANV CANVINGTON, are you sure you haven't already suffered a head injury but haven't realised? You attitude of "it hasn't happend yet so it won't happen" is as illogical as it is idiotic. What do all first time accident people have in common? Yes, that's right, they haven't had an accident before.

Check for bumps mate.

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Frosty the Snowman why don't you buy a white one? Why they make black ones I can't imagine.

queen bodecia you may have to pay a little more for a different shape.

I use a Smith Variant Brim in Matt White http://www.rxsport.co.uk/products/Smith-Variant-Brim-Ski-Helmet-%252d-Matte-White.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=base only problem is the white straps that look very grubby after two full seasons use Embarassed

I also find Uvex helmets also have a satisfying shape (to my aged eye!!!)

I have a wife and two young children and I think it would be sad affair if I returned from skiing with a brain injury or didn't return at all because I didn't wear my helmet. They would ask for the rest of our days "why didn't he just wear it?"

Without being melodramatic you just never know if it will save your head perhaps until its too late.

Bottom line though is it's personal choice and I actually prefer to wear mine as it's comfortable and makes me feel more confident skiing in within my ability. Don't care if doesn't look cool.

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

abc, if you work seasons you get to see all sorts of incidents and injuries. I agree that statistically skiing is actually a very safe sport but why take the risk when there is an obvious advantage to wearing a helmet.......your goggles don't steam up!!!!

A snowHead

jirac18, spot on except who says it doesn't look cool? It would be the same with smoking. Some smokers think they look cool but non-smokers think they look dirty and disgusting. Actually the nay-sayers kind of remind me of smokers.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

This thread had gone completely insane rolling eyes

.

uktrailmonster,

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Dare I say Helmet debate?

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