 Poster: A snowHead
|
thats an interesting interview. He seems to feel that the industry is to blame for a number of avalanche deaths, a point of view that i've not thought of before but one that I do agree with.
Walking around chamonix ropes and beepers are all part of the look, but the ability to use them properly doesnt quite follow suit 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
| marksovereign wrote: |
Quite frankly its beyond me the resistance to helmets - theyre warm confortable not sweaty and if they offer you even half a chance in a fall whats not to like?
Ive not yet heard one creditable arguement for NOT wearing a helmet. This crap about people wearing a helmet andconsidering they are invincible is just bollo$ks.
Someone skiing like that will cause accidents regardless.
As for the neurosurgeon jibe whats wrong with people on here do they just want to ague for the sake of it due to having a small pint? If I had a friend who was a neurosurgeon who told me that Id damn well take notice and pass it on! |
Absolutely. As I said, I literally couldn't care one quarter of one per cent of a toss whether Bode Swiller or anyone else wants to wear a helmet, but I do, I have for years, and a very highly trained neurosurgeon who is famous for his expertise and who happens to be a friend of mine looked at my hat after that fall and said, 'You'd be dead if you hadn't been wearing that,' so I thought I'd mention it. That's all.
Wear one, don't wear one, who gives a monkey's? Just don't come drooling to me if you get clipped by someone and smack your beanie-clad head on a rock at the side of the piste, because you won't be able to understand me when I say I told you so.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
marksovereign, neurosurgeon jokes aside, my point was that people justify helmets for all based on their own accident - for all I know they are all sitting ducks or reckless. I'm 100% believer in it being a free choice but the helmet evangelism is never backed up by hard evidence either.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
Well, what I object to is the amount of false propaganda (dishonest head injury statistics etc.) and other tactics deployed by the helmet industry and its sales agents over the years.
We also have a ski insurance company recently insisting that policy-holders wear a helmet. This could not possibly be a publicity tactic, rather than a bona-fide condition based on actuarial science ... could it? What if these policy-holders take helmets off on a warm spring day on the mountain? Will that invalidate any injury claim (including non-head)?
The trade in helmets has been a bonanza for ski shops, but the downside is that it has presented a public image of skiing very different to the benign bobble-hatted pastime we once enjoyed. Groups of skiers now look like speedway bikers, out to cut up a dirt-track. People's faces have been anonymised into pudgy blobs. This is not a positive impression for potential skiers.
Skiing is not a dangerous sport, particularly in terms of threat to the head. Head injury risk is low, compared to other sports where helmets are correctly essential. If people learn to ski well - by investing in top-quality instruction - they will radically minimise the risk of any type of injury. They will avoid the fixed obstacles that are the principal cause of head impact.
I object to my sport being overwhelmed by a retail imperative to sell un-needed ugly, alien, kit.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
| Comedy Goldsmith wrote: |
Well, what I object to is the amount of false propaganda (dishonest head injury statistics etc.) and other tactics deployed by the helmet industry and its sales agents over the years.
We also have a ski insurance company recently insisting that policy-holders wear a helmet. This could not possibly be a publicity tactic, rather than a bona-fide condition based on actuarial science ... could it? What if these policy-holders take helmets off on a warm spring day on the mountain? Will that invalidate any injury claim (including non-head)?
The trade in helmets has been a bonanza for ski shops, but the downside is that it has presented a public image of skiing very different to the benign bobble-hatted pastime we once enjoyed. Groups of skiers now look like speedway bikers, out to cut up a dirt-track. People's faces have been anonymised into pudgy blobs. This is not a positive impression for potential skiers.
Skiing is not a dangerous sport, particularly in terms of threat to the head. Head injury risk is low, compared to other sports where helmets are correctly essential. If people learn to ski well - by investing in top-quality instruction - they will radically minimise the risk of any type of injury. They will avoid the fixed obstacles that are the principal cause of head impact.
I object to my sport being overwhelmed by a retail imperative to sell un-needed ugly, alien, kit. |
It's not 'your' sport, as far as I know?
Beyond that, most of this amounts to 'it was all so much better in my day', worrying about positive impressions for potential skiers (?) and some nonsense about will your insurance be invalidated if you take your hat off and don't suffer a head injury (answer: no).
Yeah. OK.
No, sorry. I literally cannot see what your problem is.
If you want to wear a helmet, do.
If you don't, don't.
What business is it of yours if the shops make money selling them? You should be happy that the increased profit they make on the helmets your don't buy allows them to compete more on the things you do buy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
| Bode Swiller wrote: |
| marksovereign, neurosurgeon jokes aside, my point was that people justify helmets for all based on their own accident - for all I know they are all sitting ducks or reckless. I'm 100% believer in it being a free choice but the helmet evangelism is never backed up by hard evidence either. |
Who are these people who are 'justify(ing) helmets for all based on their own accident'?
I see lots of people saying, wear one if you want, don't wear one if you don't.
I don't think I've read - though I may have missed it - ANYONE saying 'I had an accident, therefore everyone should wear a helmet.'
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We're on the road to helmet compulsion - mandatory use. It's creeping into ski schools and ski areas. It's got to stop.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Comedy Goldsmith wrote: |
| Skiing is not a dangerous sport, particularly in terms of threat to the head. Head injury risk is low, compared to other sports where helmets are correctly essential. If people learn to ski well - by investing in top-quality instruction - they will radically minimise the risk of any type of injury. They will avoid the fixed obstacles that are the principal cause of head impact. |
In my case on the few occasions when I've banged my head hard the fixed obstacle I struck was the ground. It's kind of difficult to avoid that 
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
| Bode Swiller wrote: |
| marksovereign, neurosurgeon jokes aside, my point was that people justify helmets for all based on their own accident - for all I know they are all sitting ducks or reckless. I'm 100% believer in it being a free choice but the helmet evangelism is never backed up by hard evidence either. |
My view is quite simple. I wouldnt cycle or Kayak without a helmet so why wouldn't you wear something that has the potential to help you survive a potentially fatal or severely imparing accident. You owe it to your family to try and prevent needing permanent care from a skiing accident!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| northernsoulboy wrote: |
| Who are these people who are 'justify(ing) helmets for all based on their own accident'? |
You'd need to go study the 143,000 helmet threads on this forum. They are in there alright.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
Comedy Goldsmith,
| Quote: |
We're on the road to helmet compulsion
|
No we are not, for kids yes in some nations, for whatever reason legislators see fit but no nation has yet suggested or started a process of making them compulsory for adults.
I wear one it started after my wife had a major surgery on her cranium which left her very vulnerable to knocks on the head in any environment, in fact the consultant told her wearing protective head wear doing any activity was now advised for her circumstances, so out of sympathy I joined in.
I can account for other people on the slope or a whole mired of unknowns while on the slopes, Natural hazards, Things hidden under the snow, getting a ski on the head from a carless clown. Do I feel safer with it on not particularly, does it bother me if people wear them or not, NO.
Do I think they will make a difference in certain accident situations probably; I give you Scott McCarnthney as the example here.
I never understood why people get so wound up about it; do other people wearing them ruin your enjoyment of the mountains? If the answer is yes you shouldn’t be in the mountains.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
| Fattes13 wrote: |
| I never understood why people get so wound up about it; do other people wearing them ruin your enjoyment of the mountains? |
This.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Comedy Goldsmith wrote: |
Skiing is not a dangerous sport, particularly in terms of threat to the head. Head injury risk is low, compared to other sports where helmets are correctly essential. |
Actually, pace Bode, or my reply to Bode, someone is hinting that helmets could be made mandatory.
Speaking as someone who doesn't think selt belts in cars should be mandatory (though I can see the arguments from those who have to deal with the aftermath of car wrecks), I would hate to see that - it's control freakery, and I think it should be up to an adult to make his or her mind up.
But it's not strictly true to say that skiing 'is not a dangerous sport, particularly in terms of threat to the head', as this Johns-Hopkins report says (apologies if posted before, which I'm sure it probably has been on one of these threads):
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/helmets_save_lives_of_skiers_and_snowboarders
| Quote: |
The use of helmets by skiers and snowboarders decreases the risk and severity of head injuries and saves lives, new Johns Hopkins-led research suggests. The findings debunk long-held beliefs by some that the use of helmets gives athletes a false sense of security and promotes dangerous behavior that might increase injuries.
"There really is a great case to be made for wearing helmets," says Adil H. Haider, M.D., M.P.H., an associate professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the leader of the study published in the November issue of the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. "By increasing awareness and giving people scientific proof, we hope behavior changes will follow.'
...Head injuries are the chief cause of death among skiers and snowboarders... Analysis showed that helmets are lifesavers and do not increase the risk of injury... Haider and his family are avid skiers and all wear helmets on the slopes.
Haider says some skiers have long argued that wearing a helmet on the slopes lowers visibility, hampers the ability to hear what is going on around them and encourages risky behavior, because they feel invincible. Some skiers have also suggested that wearing a helmet increases the torque and whiplash felt when a skier does go down, making neck and cervical spine injury more likely.
"These are all just excuses," Haider says. "Our research shows none of those theories hold water."
...Richardson hit her head when she fell backward at a low speed while on a beginner’s "bunny' slope, and wearing a helmet likely would have prevented lethal head injury. |
Last edited by So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much  on Thu 21-02-13 13:12; edited 1 time in total
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
| Bode Swiller wrote: |
| northernsoulboy wrote: |
| Who are these people who are 'justify(ing) helmets for all based on their own accident'? |
You'd need to go study the 143,000 helmet threads on this forum. They are in there alright. |
I doubt it. I think you're reading what you want to read. But if anyone is saying that, they're cretins.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
marksovereign, it's not the helmet that makes you safe. It's the decisions you take. What I have been saying basically is that the helmet is irrelevant without paying attention to the things that really make you safe... technique, mountain craft, equipment choices, fitness and more.
If you are going to hit your head then, up to a certain impact force, of course more protection is better than none. Trouble is, your average skier is now travelling way beyond the speed required to kill or permanently disable you with or without a lid.
Stop the grooming.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
| Bode Swiller wrote: |
marksovereign, it's not the helmet that makes you safe. It's the decisions you take. What I have been saying basically is that the helmet is irrelevant without paying attention to the things that really make you safe... technique, mountain craft, equipment choices, fitness and more.
If you are going to hit your head then, up to a certain impact force, of course more protection is better than none. Trouble is, your average skier is now travelling way beyond the speed required to kill or permanently disable you with or without a lid.
Stop the grooming. |
Sorry, the first bit of this - 'it's not the helmet... it's the decisions' - is drivel. It is very obviously both.
I agree entirely re grooming and people skiing beyond their abilities, mind you; what I find hard to understand is how anyone could view the undoubted fact that you are surrounded on piste by idiots doing 50mph with only partial control over their direction as a reason not to wear a helmet! Seems to me you are making the argument in favour, not against.
But again - it's your choice and should remain so. No compulsion coming from this quarter.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
| Bode Swiller wrote: |
marksovereign, it's not the helmet that makes you safe. It's the decisions you take. What I have been saying basically is that the helmet is irrelevant without paying attention to the things that really make you safe... technique, mountain craft, equipment choices, fitness and more.
If you are going to hit your head then, up to a certain impact force, of course more protection is better than none. Trouble is, your average skier is now travelling way beyond the speed required to kill or permanently disable you with or without a lid.
Stop the grooming. |
I dont disagree with a word you say BUT what about the out of control idiot who takes you out in a lift queue and you smack your head on the ice? Technique, Mountain,craft,fitness will not help you then! of course its your decision, but my point is how can it be logical not tro wear something that might save your life?
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
I reckon it was about 80% in Zell / Saalbach.
| Bode Swiller wrote: |
Yeah, well that's different. Falling rocks are things that are out of your own control. |
That reason doesn't make sense to me - every other skier and border in the resort is out of your control and many of them are as as much under their own control as a falling rock and contain more alcohol. The stationary object are more under your control but then they are less of a risk. Presumably a helmet is helpful in an avalanche too at reducing injury.
I've had a couple of skiing blood accidents - one when I was about 14 and came off a steep rutted T-bar and knocked about 20 people coming up the T-bar off with my head. Non-competitive skiers didn't wear helmets back then. The other was just a bad bruise on my thigh by falling on a rock.
I reluctantly started wearing a helmet about 6 years ago. I now wear one as much for comfort, warmth and to reduce googles misting up as for safety.
Another question - I wonder how many people have started wearing a helmet and didn't like it and so stopped - very few I suspect. Anybody? I suspect most people who don't want to wear a helmet have never tried skiing with one.
I don't think they should be compulsory as it should be a personal choice - but then it is for motorcyclists in most European countries already, so I guess it may well come in 10 or 20 years time along with cyclists, there won't be much resistance if 90% people are already wearing them. However, I do think it should be kept optional for ski-touring (including access by ski lift and via pistes) as wearing a helmet when going uphill is sweaty, adds a little extra weight and tend to swing around a bit tied to your pack - and there's virtually nobody around to ski into you (but more natural hazards).
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
| Bode Swiller wrote: |
| marksovereign, it's not the helmet that makes you safe. It's the decisions you take. What I have been saying basically is that the helmet is irrelevant without paying attention to the things that really make you safe... technique, mountain craft, equipment choices, fitness and more. |
Can't agree with that. Even when you have reasonable skills and are paying attention to technique, mountain craft, have the right kit, and appropriate level of fitness, etc, that won't make you immune to falling unless you ski so far inside your comfort zone that skiing would lose, for many people, any meaning. I banged my head pretty hard recently, as a result of one ski getting ripped of by a submerged block of ice. I'm certain that the helmet made the difference between being able to continue skiing after a short break and having to call it a day. For me that justifies my use of a helmet. It wouldn't save me if I skied in to a tree or a pylon at 40mph (probably nothing would), but that doesn't mean my helmet is irrelevant to me. Equally, strapping on a helmet doesn't mean I stop paying attention to important decisions like technique and mountain craft, so I wouldn't, for example, ski through trees at 40mph just because I'm sporting POC or Sweet.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
northernsoulboy, clearly, you are just a head on a pair of skis then. There are lots of other parts of your body you should want to preserve. Broken ribs and a collapsed lung, for example, are a right laugh, especially at altitude, yet you don't wear a rib cage. Its a far more likely outcome from a collision than a head injury. It's about the decisions you make.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
I started wearing a helmet last year. The reason why? Because I realised that I would never get on whitewater kayaking without a helmet, nor would I get on a cycle without a helmet so why would I throw myself down a mountian on two pieces of "wood" without one?
Though I do still prefer the freedom to chose from one of my numerous wooly hats to go with my outfit 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
marksovereign, I think your comment sums it all up pretty well. Couldn't agree more. To put the helmet argument another way (and if you will forgive the atrocious grammar)..... 'What's not to like?'
On a different note....
The FIS conduct 'rules'. I was never taught them (40 years ago), my wife was never taught them (15 years ago), and I'm 99% sure the ESF haven't mentioned them to my children. Anyway, I did go and look them up and was pleased to see they are all painfully obvious and what we have all been doing anyway. Still, a reminder never hurts.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| marksovereign wrote: |
| ... but my point is how can it be logical not tro wear something that might save your life? |
When the risks are so small that disadvantages of wearing a helmet outweigh the advantages?
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
| marksovereign wrote: |
| BUT what about the out of control idiot who takes you out in a lift queue and you smack your head on the ice? |
Not much you can do about that. They probably won't hit you at head height though and you might be unlucky enough to be knocked over but, honestly, we could come up with plenty of odd scenarios.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Bode Swiller wrote: |
marksovereign,
Stop the grooming. |
I think there are laws about that already.......
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
| Comedy Goldsmith wrote: |
| We're on the road to helmet compulsion - mandatory use. It's creeping into ski schools and ski areas. It's got to stop. |
Why? What's the downside of everyone on the mountain wearing a helmet? Why wouldn't you wear one? Just because someone is telling you to? Well, I (and the authorities) are telling you that the downhill skiier has the right of way, and that you shouldn't stop in the middle of the piste. Are you going to ignore that just to be contrary as well?
Personally I am very much in favour of everyone else not using a helmet. After all getting hit by someone wearing a helmet feels very very marginally safer for me, as the person being hit, than getting hit by someone without. After all, their head is probably softer than my helmet, which is the major area of impact I would be most worried about. Having been hit from every direction imaginable on a variety of sports fields, I am comfortable with everything other than a major clash of heads, and when skiing someone coming at me at speed from behind is about the only impact I can do nothing about. The helmet gives me peace of mind, and Mrs M wearing one gives me similar peace of mind that she is protected from the same.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
| Bode Swiller wrote: |
| northernsoulboy, clearly, you are just a head on a pair of skis then. There are lots of other parts of your body you should want to preserve. Broken ribs and a collapsed lung, for example, are a right laugh, especially at altitude, yet you don't wear a rib cage. Its a far more likely outcome from a collision than a head injury. It's about the decisions you make. |
Mate, no offence, but this is laughable.
This seems to amount to: Because you can't protect X you shouldn't protect Y.
Right. Not sure I agree with you but there you go.
As it happens, I would if I could.
I have broken ribs twice skiing, and also dislocated a shoulder. I know they're painful!
Unlike the ribs, where in each case I got clipped by someone else, the shoulder was my fault (I caught an edge in some moguls).
That injury, in particular, was extremely painful; though I was able to pop the shoulder back in and ice it up with a carrier bag of snow for a couple of hours, and I did just about manage to carry on skiing for the remaining three days, it meant three months of gradually decreasing pain.
If there was a simple piece of kit that didn't interfere with my skiing and would give me a decent level of protection against that happening again - equivalent, say, to a helmet - I'd wear it. There isn't, sadly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| rob@rar wrote: |
| When the risks are so small that disadvantages of wearing a helmet outweigh the advantages? |
What disadvantages? Cost? Helmets are now available from a range of sources for £20, about the same as a decent beanie from any reputable brand. Weight? Helmet doesn't weigh anything compared to the rest of the guff on my head, including a Gopro that is definitely optional. Comfort? That's an advantage isn't it? It certainly seems more comfortable than a hat that's all wet from getting covered in snow.
The only downside I can imagine is that it is slightly bulky, so needs to go in the suitcase first. That seems like an infintecimally small downside.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
Wearing helmet on a bike is voluntary. Yet me and all my roadie mates wouldn't dream of not wearing one. Did the dunich dynamo last year, overnight 120 mile ride from london to dunwich. Didnt see anyone out of around 700 without a helmet. Skiing gradually going the same way. No compulsion but a few who refuse too.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
| Mistress Panda wrote: |
| What disadvantages? |
Sometimes I find wearing one is way too hot. I don't like the loss of peripheral vision that I get when I wear a helmet (because I will always wear goggles with one). I don't like the loss of hearing that I get with a helmet. If I'm just pottering around on a blue piste my judgement is that the risk of injury which a helmet would have prevented is so small that it is not worth the, admittedly, minor inconveniences that I don't like when wearing a helmet.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
|
northernsoulboy, you sound like a disaster.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
Another question - I wonder how many people have started wearing a helmet and didn't like it and so stopped - very few I suspect. Anybody? I suspect most people who don't want to wear a helmet have never tried skiing with one.
I really don't care if people wear them or not. Don't see why it bothers anyone unless people try to make it compulsory. I bought one about three seasons ago and got tired of it pretty quickly. Just feel its a bit constraining, looks rubbish, additional hassle and I'm willing to take the calculated risk. I have dug it out on occassion wwhen I know I'm going to ski something with serious exposure but in reality you would probabaly die with or without the lid being raked down a cliff. In fairness I would prob make my nephew wear one when he gets on skis but people can do what they want. Don't think I've ever seen a guide or instructor wearing one.
J
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
| emwmarine wrote: |
| Wearing helmet on a bike is voluntary. Yet me and all my roadie mates wouldn't dream of not wearing one. Did the dunich dynamo last year, overnight 120 mile ride from london to dunwich. Didnt see anyone out of around 700 without a helmet. Skiing gradually going the same way. No compulsion but a few who refuse too. |
If you watch the old Tour de France footage now, it seems really weird those guys not helmeted up.
Same with batting in cricket. Imagine facing Malcolm Marshall in a floppy white sun hat. (Ask Andy Lloyd if he wishes helmet technology had been a bit more advanced in 1984.)
Or those old racing car drivers of the 1920s in their stylish leather baseball caps.
I can't decide whether they just had enormous cojones years ago, or the technology didn't exist. (Actually, I can.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
| Bode Swiller wrote: |
| northernsoulboy, you sound like a disaster. |
I do a lot of skiing, have done for 30 years. You're going to have accidents, sadly. You sound like a legend (I assume your 'collapsed lung at altitude' was something you read about?).
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
| kesone1 wrote: |
| Another question - I wonder how many people have started wearing a helmet and didn't like it and so stopped - very few I suspect. |
Me, sort of. There will be some times when I choose not to wear one. Other times when I feel uncomfortable not wearing one.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Bode Swiller wrote: |
| northernsoulboy, clearly, you are just a head on a pair of skis then. There are lots of other parts of your body you should want to preserve. Broken ribs and a collapsed lung, for example, are a right laugh, especially at altitude, yet you don't wear a rib cage. Its a far more likely outcome from a collision than a head injury. It's about the decisions you make. |
I've never known anyone put into a coma from a couple of broken ribs. The rescue rangers will come and cart me off the mountain with broken arms, legs, ribs, you name it, but I am conscious and the risk of death is very very small. It might hurt a bit, but the reality is that I will recover and unless I am the one in a million impacts that causes internal injuries or results in a broken spine, I am fairly confident that it is all fixable. A serious head injury has much more serious consequences, even if these consequences are exceptionally unlikely. I perceive that risk to be significantly higher than the risk of getting seriously injured or killed by any other means, so I wear a helmet. You must believe the risk to be significantly lower, or have an objection to wearing one that we cannot fathom and you seem unable to explain, or you would too.
But it is your right. If you are driving alone in a car, feel free not to wear a seatbelt. I don't mind - it doesn't affect me one jot if there is an accident. The same is true of you not wearing a helmet, it is entirely up to you. I just can't see why you wouldn't do it. In the same way I can't see why you wouldn't wear a seatbelt in a car, but millions of people make the same choice for some odd reason every day.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Mistress Panda wrote: |
| Bode Swiller wrote: |
| northernsoulboy, clearly, you are just a head on a pair of skis then. There are lots of other parts of your body you should want to preserve. Broken ribs and a collapsed lung, for example, are a right laugh, especially at altitude, yet you don't wear a rib cage. Its a far more likely outcome from a collision than a head injury. It's about the decisions you make. |
I just can't see why you wouldn't do it. |
I suspect it's because he is rock hard.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
| northernsoulboy wrote: |
| Bode Swiller wrote: |
| northernsoulboy, you sound like a disaster. |
I do a lot of skiing, have done for 30 years. You're going to have accidents, sadly. You sound like a legend (I assume your 'collapsed lung at altitude' was something you read about?). |
No, I had to deal with one.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
rob@rar,
| Quote: |
just pottering around on a blue piste
|
That's what I was doing when a lad skied into me and managed somehow to deliver a blow to my head. It was after that I bought a helmet. I'm not scared of spontaneously injuring myself (since I don't really do gnarly, so trees and rocks are not much of an issue) but I am scared of other people.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
