 Poster: A snowHead
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Well, I thought the original post was funny.
My question, though, is an earnest one. achilles, I read that link about cycle helmets, and the article continues with the words quoted above, describing the downside of helmets:
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"brain damage from rotational injuries... [...] and the sliding impact friction of helmets."
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I wonder what this means, because I think a recent experience of mine might bear this out. What I cannot understand is, if the head is rotated, why that should cause brain damage.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Bode Swiller wrote: |
Shimmy Alcott, a nice thin merino wool helmet. [blond alert]It's a hat[/blond alert]
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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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I'll probably have to get one now. But I often take my hat off and just ski in sun-glasses (and other stuff from the neck down, by the way).... Hmm. Can you wear a helmet with sun glasses or do you have to carry a second pair of goggles with high quality dark lenses for bright sun?
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For my goggles I can get different lenses that I can change according to the conditions. I dont get on too well with Goggles and thought, despite the gaper risk factor, that I would wear my Sunnies on sunny days, but they look really stupid also, depending on your helmet fit then the arms of your glasses might get squashed against the side of your head and be uncomfortable.
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I guess that rotational injuries are where the brain's inertia cannot keep up with the sudden rotation of the skull, effectively tearing the brain loose from its mountings, rather like if you rotate a bucket of emulsion paint slowly back and forth, the paint moves with the bucket, but if you make the roation more jerky and violent, the majority of the paint will tend to stay still with a shear layer agaist the bucket wall.
As a kid I was once larking about, hanging upside down on a Tarzan swing, wearing a motorbike crash helmet, forgetting that the helmet effectively made my head bigger, I got too close to the ground and the helmet caught the ground and twisted my neck, no real harm done but I did have a stiff neck for a few days.
In 3V last month, I was asked if I did not feel the odd one out as the only one not wearing a helmet, I hadn't noticed the fact but the comment hardened my resolve not to wear one.
The research seemed to concentrate on deaths, Dying does not really bother me, it's the accidents that result in something in between life and death that worry me.
I would never criticise someone for wearing a helmet, just don't tell me I should be wearing one
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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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tangowaggon, nicely put. But actually the evidence for Helmets shows reduction in severity of non-fatal head injuries with no increase in neck injury.
Anyway - very good OP.
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stoatsbrother, thanks for that. I must say, I thought neck injury was a more likely consequence of rotational forces.
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it's the accidents that result in something in between life and death that worry me.
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hardened my resolve not to wear one.
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Hmmm
I am trying very hard to reconcile these bits of your posting, Maybe the impact on the swing was harder than you thought?
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I would never criticise someone for wearing a helmet, just don't tell me I should be wearing one
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Fair point though 
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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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| Jonny Jones wrote: |
| Bode Swiller wrote: |
| Oceanic wrote: |
| Can anyone explain to me why some people who wear helmets feel the need to keep telling people who don't to change their ways? |
I’ll try. Certainly the 10-point plan for everlasting piste survival outlined at the beginning of this thread, has more than just a smack of buyer’s remorse, sheep mentality, ignorance and a tiny bit of humour about it (but not much humour – more there to tone down the evangelist factor I suspect). |
OK. I admit it. I'm self-evidently a helmet evangelist who bullies the whole world into submission until they submit to the force of my arguments. I'm also a Christmas pudding evangelist. And a mountain-biking-before-dawn-on-a-frosty-night-under-a-cloudless-sky-and-a-full-moon evangelist. And a King James Bible evangelist. Because when you find something you like, you tend to talk about it. And Reason 6 (comfort) is the real reason I wear a helmet.
But my original post was an attempt to use humour (I know, I know... I'm not very funny. Be patient with me; I'm doing my best to learn) to prick some of the pomposity and absurd posturing that surrounds the helmet debate. Thank you to the 90% of posters who instinctively understand. Please keep amusing me; it's been great and I've had a few belly laughs from some incredible posts. And, for the other 10%, I have one thing to say:
BTW. Bode Swiller, Oceanic: you're not old are you? |
The main reason I don't wear one is that it makes you look like a knob. (I mean literally..... I don't care what people think I look like, but I am less that pleased to look like a 6 ft pint on skis.)
The other reason is people like you, who deem it necessary to tell me how to live my life.
HTH
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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This forum is amusing.
On the one hand people get rarked about a funny post about helmets, and then on the other hand, nobody rips into a blonde dude who wants to colour co-ordinate his gloves and his backpack.
I think you poms are a funny bunch. Looking forward to visiting one day.
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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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I'm so glad I bought my helmet in Serre Chevalier last year when in Alpe D'Huez 2 weeks ago I got wiped out by a French Snowboarder. I did a faceplant and hit my head quite hard, so much so I got a bit of a black eye from my goggles.
Who knows what could have happened if I hadn't been wearing one. The piste was hard and icy, so I would liken the impact to hitting concrete. The only damage other than the slightly bruised eye was a twisted knee which still hurts now.
I would never let my daughter ski without a helmet, even my husband bought one this year!
Thornyhill, mine makes me look quite stylish actually. It's white with gold swirls on it and with my white goggles looks nice  Plus it keeps my head warm...
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You know it makes sense.
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| Jonny Jones wrote: |
| Feel free to disagree with me. |
So I did and now you don't like it. And now you've become an ageist helmet evangelist too boot.
Anyway, nuff of that, and to change tack slightly, it often seems to me that helmet-wearers ski more defensively than be-hatted peeps (I'm talking ordinary recreational piste skiing here, not pipe & park or racing etc). So, are they wearing a helmet because they are more fearful naturally or is it because better, more experienced skiers (possibly older ) are confident of avoiding collisions and head-plants? Or did I just make that up, or is my own slopeside survey flawed?
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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hang11,
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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= 4mph
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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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| Bode Swiller wrote: |
= 4mph |
It's km/h here
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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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I look damn cool and co-ordinated at the top and bottom.
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Again with the co-ordination. I have a red helmet, a yellow puffa, green salos, blue buff and orange skis. But I'm quite a well co-ordinated skier.
PS Did anyone see the Guardian piece on Courchevel? I have decided never to worry about how I look ever (or have a fit about the brand of champagne I have on tap) and just ski.
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I joined the helmet club yesterday I actually quite like it despite it being a total struggle finding something I liked that didnt make me look like an avid cycle fan or an egg. I reckon they look much better tried on with goggles and a ski jacket then it doesn't feel like u have this thing twice the side of your head on that looks a bit odd!
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FiFi_Trixibell, that's the problem. It is twice the size of your head, and if you are tall it catches on the chair-lift guards. On the other hand it keeps your ears warm, and doesn't keep trying to fly off in the slipstream when you go fast. Some people say they don't look right with sunglasses, but that combination looked pretty cool in "Electraglide in Blue."
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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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Sofia, I think Scotia might fall in love with you
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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| Bode Swiller wrote: |
| Anyway, nuff of that, and to change tack slightly, it often seems to me that helmet-wearers ski more defensively than be-hatted peeps (I'm talking ordinary recreational piste skiing here, not pipe & park or racing etc). So, are they wearing a helmet because they are more fearful naturally or is it because better, more experienced skiers (possibly older ) are confident of avoiding collisions and head-plants? Or did I just make that up, or is my own slopeside survey flawed? |
I don't know if you are right since I'm not on piste enough to notice.
However, people who have been skiing for a long time (and thus ski more confidently) grew up in a pre-helmet culture. People who learned recently were introduced to helmets from the start and were surrounded by people wearing helmets. For me, until recently, helmets were what beginners wore - not the sort of serious skiers I met off piste.
It takes a while for these associations to be eroded.
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We were for so long against them, but finally gave up and bought them, and fall in love straight away, so comfy and they can even chill out with us on the terrace.........
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You know it makes sense.
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Tom W,
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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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I was against wearing one but after seeing the videos of people being wiped out by other skiiers on another thread I've just bought one
Funnily enough I wouldn't think of riding my motorbike or bicycle without one.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| sbirring wrote: |
I was against wearing one but after seeing the videos of people being wiped out by other skiiers on another thread I've just bought one
Funnily enough I wouldn't think of riding my motorbike or bicycle without one. |
Nope same, I wouldn't ever ride a horse without my helmet but for so long skiing it really just seems to have been so uncool which I have no doubt has played a huge factor for people not owning one.
I work with people with acquired brain injuries so it would be pretty bl**dy stupid of me not to wear one knowing the consequences it can have on an individual and their families.
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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 wear one following brain surgery. It's more for piece of mind, than because it was medically advised. I'm the only one in my group that wears one - despite constant pleas from others. I've only worn it for a week, but I didn't have any hair at the time, and doesn't half make your scalp itch - I had to wear a bandanna to absorb the sweat. I had one crash (second run of the holiday) where it proved its worth, but otherwise, I only really noticed it on telecabines, where I would keep bumping my head.
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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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Am I the only one who wears a hemlet to protect myself from... myself?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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c0Ka|Ne, no, just the only one to admit it!
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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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OP - excellent logic. I bought one for the first time this season, and I love it. But I had to, as I was taking part in some stupid activity where one was compulsory, and the organisers were insisting, the swine.
However, it has proved worth its weight in gold, for it has:
- kept me warm
- saved my life when I fell off a table in some apres ski dive (I had been too drunk to remember to remove said helmet - and thank God for that, eh?
- made countless on/off piste faux US-Marines style headbutting montages possible, usually while yelling "Hoo-Rah!" or "Get some, Marine", which has made us both popular with locals and attractive to women
- disguised my features whilst running away from some "tough" snowboarding youths who wanted to "lamp" me.
- performed well, in between ski expeditions, as an "extreme" plant pot holder chez Flashman.
- been a useful London clubbing prop. Along with my ski goggles.
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What no tales of the ladies Mr Flashman?
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| Shimmy Alcott wrote: |
red 27, We bought ours as it was, we believed, the sensible thing to do. I tried on my first one and said it was itchy. The sales guy said "thats helmets", this was repeated by the sales guy in the second shop. I really hope I love my helmet, its very pretty but I'm yet to be convinced  |
Funny, my helmet is often itchy too
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Hello smiffy. I expect you know me from another forum. I should really have picked a new username, non?
Thought I'd make a fresh start here. Although there may be some throwaway reference to a lady in my post on the Mooserwirt/Kangaruh thread. Shockingly.
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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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The reason most guides don't wear helmets is that its more dangerous to ski off piste with a helmet, as its far harder to hear the snows reaction.
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| Esco wrote: |
| The reason most guides don't wear helmets is that its more dangerous to ski off piste with a helmet, as its far harder to hear the snows reaction. |
Um . . . to what? The fashion crime of wearing a helmet?
If el guidos weren't worried about stylistic criticism from underfoot, they could surely remove the (usually removable) earpieces . . .
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FAQ
it's amazing how many people on this thread are happy they had a brain bucket when they "got wiped out" but nobody has said that they "wiped somebody out" 
Apart from me. They did seem particularly hung up on why people wear helmets, they're never going to, health & safety blah blah blah. And slightly mocking of those who do wear helmets. Which I found a bit strange as I don't care what other people wear on their heads. The OH has had enough knocks on his head falling over on silly blue runs, never mind when he was knocked unconscious last year whilst wearing a helmet, to make me think wearing a helmet might prevent some damage. Obviously not if you're hooning into a tree at 4km/hour 
