Does your teenager wear a helmet?

A snowHead

Thanks for all the comments everyone. He hasn't objected to wearing a helmet - I just don't think it's really occurred to him in the last few years and I haven't raised the subject with him yet. It's just that as his Mum I seem to be getting more and more anxious as I see him getting ever faster and more adventurous and it seems sensible (and therefore potentially probably a bit uncool!!) to think about wearing a helmet on our next trip. It's really good to hear other peoples opinions - I think I'll get him to read and digest! Thanks, Loatie

A snowHead

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

loatie, most extreme sportspeople wear helmets, just look at the videos.

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all i can says if you break a leg or arm you still have the other whilst it heels up, but remember you only have one head and if you break that your dead or end up a cabbage, so where a helmet i always do and im taking my daughter awya to canada for her first time on the slopes and ive bought her a helmet...... so remember only one head

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never used to wear on i was like the rest ' you look daft' brigade, but how would you look with a big hole and lots of stiches in your head like the 2 snowboarders in Andorra that crashed into each other last season, never ski without it now!! snowHead

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I wear a helmet, dad didn't even have to ask me too.

And i'll second what rob@rar says, it's becoming pretty cool(ish) to wear one. Just makes you look hardcore. NehNeh

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Spikyhedgehog, do you have holes for your spines?

After all it is free

Unfortunately I don't, makes it quite uncomfortable.

Ruins my clothes as well. Razz

Always wear a helmet. Madness not to. Smile

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I don't and won't wear one. I don't ski fast and hard enough to consider it necessary.

BTW for those who do like to wear helmets, have you considered wearing a back brace? in terms of damage from an impact with another skier, or a bad fall, the risk to your back is probably greater than the risk to your head.

Does anyone have stats for cranial injuries vs spinal injuries when skiing? Does it make sense to wear head protection but not back protection? Where do you draw the line?

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Funnily enough.. last season I was skiing off-piste quite fast and hit a rock and fell on my back, for a second I couldn't move and ended up being winded. Still.. not going to wear a back brace... why? I don't know, I would want some freedom while skiing and manouervability and helmets don't limit this. Way I see it is, break your head... you're done. Break your back, there's still some hope, even if it's small.

Also, the people who are wearing helmets are probably intermediate-advanced and have the ability to dodge a rogue skier or snowboarder. Only risk I could see if if you do cliff jumps, otherwise your back SHOULD be able to sustain the pressure no?

I broke my back falling off a horse when I was about 20, I've worn a back protector in the saddle ever since - I hadn't considered wearing one for skiing though - I don't think I go fast enough

You know it makes sense.

You'd be surprised at how fast you can go... I did a speed trap once and topped off at 80KM/h with somewhat old carving skies, taking that as a comparison i reckon i do around 50-60 on the slopes maybe bit more at times.

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

Timmaah, If I was skiing at those speeds I would wear a helmet Shocked

(and probably need a frequent change of underwear too snowHead

).

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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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letitsnow, But like the policies that exclude 'off-piste' and hence leave the skier who strays 1 foot outside of the piste markers uncovered, policies that required a helmet to be worn might not be popular with all skiers and hence might not sell so well. Very Happy

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Insurance companies are a slippery lot, so they will probably try to use a contributory negligence stance to avoid, or reduce, payouts before stating explicitly that no lid / no cover applies.

After all it is free

Actually I think that they'll want to see a stronger level of medical evidence that helmets save lives, and don't contribute significantly to spinal injuries before they try and make it compulsory.

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Megamum, I'm not talking off-piste skiing, just how risky do you think the piste's are for the heroic rescuers? Have you ever been rescued from a piste BTW? My daughter was skiddood down with a broken wrist last year, (she was wearing a helmet, it didn't help).

BTW the term is 'piste patrollers', 'mountain rescuers' fetch people off the spiky bits that aren't groomed - here's one back for you - rolling eyes

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Hmmm I'll start wearing a back protector when I get adventurous in the park. But thats not yet, and a helmet will do for now Very Happy

I ended up getting a mild concussion from falling on my head. Mentioned this earlier, but I did have a helmet on it was just on too tight and that worsened it. Still... I wear helmets as considering the stuff I try to do and do it would just be daft not to. Skiing down a small couloir without a helmet is asking for trouble.

You know it makes sense.

I bought my helmet for style first, safety second....but now don't know what I did without it. I left it in the hotel one afternoon to work on the nursery slopes with a beginner....and spent the whole time paranoid about catching an edge or being hit from uphill.

But it definitely makes me less aware of the space around my head. Having never hit my head skiing before, whilst wearing a lid i've whacked my head on chairlift bars, T-bars, the edges of my skis whilst carrying, doorways, etc.

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JimiHendrix, see your point about hitting your head, but in the case of T bars and chairlift bars I rather thought it was because it made my head even bigger... Sad

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AxsMan OK, piste patrollers it is, and no - haven't been rescued myself or known anyone that has.

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Megamum,

You have to admit that the phrase 'mountain rescue teams' gives rise to an image of grizzled individuals roped together battling against the elements to reach the poor foolish (helmetless) skier who has needlessly risked his own life and theirs.

Wheras the reality is the piste patrol ride up the piste on skidoos, cruise to the injured party and carry them down past numerous onlookers and sundry children who are all playing happliy on the (safely pisted and patrolled) slopes.

I would venture that the risk to the rescuers is somewhat less than your post implied, (and not particularly exacerbated by my decision not to wear a helmet - which by the way the noble rescuers of my daughter were not wearing either) Very Happy

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Man those skidoos... If you drift them you're a goner! One wrong move and that skidoo is doing three 50ft summersaults, not a pretty sight.... Not... a pretty sight at all.

...

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AxsMan, Oh, you musn't mind me................ I was only trying to be facaetious (which I probably can't even spell Laughing

) I was just trying to put a ding in your otherwise faultless logic which sounded too good in this thread and provided a good argument for folks like yourself to not wear a helmet and may therefore have swayed others to this perspective. There that's being honest isn't it? Toofy Grin

As you can probably guess I'm firmly with the wear a helmet brigade - in fact I'm surprised that I went the first time without one - I just don't think I even considered the possibility that an adult recreational skier would wear one - much less that you could actually buy such a thing. yes, I grant that there many injuries to legs and arms that they won't prevent happening and probably occasions when they may even exacerbate a head injury, but statisically that must be in the minority otherwise their use would surely not be advocated at all. The issue of a back injury is interesting. At this moment I don't think I'm liable to do more than slither sideways on piste unceromiously on my bum, and can see a problem with my back unless someone then crashes into me. If I started playing in the piste or skiing these couloirs I would probably do something for my back then.

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Megamum, No worries, and as I said, I have no argument with anyone choosing to wear a helmet, I just think it's OTT to call anyone who doesn't 'mad' (not that YOU did).

For a skier like me (who doesn't do the fast and furious stuff) I would think the risk of injury is similar to that of a football or rugby player running round a crowded pitch (neither of whom wear helmets, (apart from the softy septics NehNeh

)), i.e. collision with other bodies, or an awkward fall. My thought is that a back protector would probably help me survive such a collision better than a helmet, particularly in the case where another skier (or more likely boarder* Twisted Evil

) ran into me.

(not that I wear a spine protector either - I rely on a generous layer of subcutaneous padding to save me from such impacts Laughing

)

BTW what about the case of the helmetted skier who hits another skier head first causing more damage to them than they would have with their unarmoured bonce? Assault with a deadly helmet anyone? (ooh err missus, down Scarpa Laughing

)

*Just kidding boarders wink

, two of my kids board and I know there as many out of control fools on planks as there are on trays. snowHead

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I'm actually looking for a back protector now. If I'm spending 5 months in resort, I might want one at some point, and it works out much more cost-effective to get one here....

After all it is free

Last year my 13 year old son was skiing in a group on the piste when an out of control adult came onto the piste from the side and cut him up. He crashed into another of the group's chest and onto another's feet (kids all ski close together!!) and sustained concussion, two broken teeth, a broken nose and cracked his helmet. Later that day the adults in the party who previously hadn't worn helmets went off and hired them!

AxsMan, He cracked two of his mate's ribs with his helmet! Shocked

It should be upto the individual but I now wear one.

martyngb, A salutary tale, Glad he's OK Very Happy

(Maybe his mate should have worn a body brace Very Happy

)

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AxsMan, They don't ski so close together now! Toofy Grin

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Does your teenager wear a helmet?

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