 Poster: A snowHead
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Just back from Serfaus, and even though this was a 'family resort' I was still shocked to find almost nobody without a helmet. The same was true of Nauders, another nearby resort - in fact in the lift queue of maybe 200 people first thing I could not see one person without a helmet - I was getting worried I had missed the signage saying they were compulsory
I last went skiing 2 years ago and it wasn't like this - has it all changed? Are the non-helmet wearers a tiny minority across the board or just Austria?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Yes, most resorts (in Italy at least) insist that under 14's have a helmet. All ski rental shops dishing out kids gear offer one.
I can't see the enforcing the rule to my son when I won't follow suit.
Mrs. D decided "she just wanted one" but it had to have a fury lining to keep her ears warm.
One of our group, a beginner, has had two falls where I'm sure her helmet has saved her from a fair amount of discomfort.
I need somewhere to mount my gopro.
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Monkfish, pretty much - St.Anton was probably 75%-80% helmetted.
I'd imagine that helmet wearing would be even more prevelant in 'family friendly' resorts too, as parents put them on kids and follow suit to either get the kids to keep them on or get badgered into 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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Big increase in the number of people wearing a helmet this season from what I have seen.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| rob@rar wrote: |
| Big increase in the number of people wearing a helmet this season from what I have seen. |
I'd agree with that from limited experience (a week in both Italy and Austria). Quite a few people I've skied with also mentioned that they'd started to wear a helmet (as did I) in the last year. I wonder what the the "tipping point" was for what most now see/are seeing as the norm in many places.
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Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Wed 20-02-13 17:04; edited 1 time in total
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| Chasseur wrote: |
| I wonder what the the "tipping point" was for what most now see/are seeing as the norm in many places. |
Standing at the end of the chair queue in Schladming with about 40 people in front all in helmets.
Then boarding down with all of them skiing at crazy speeds fairly close to us.
We literally just skied down and bough helmets in the first shop next to the gondola 
I always thought I won't have any fun skiing in helmet, how wrong, I actually liked how they fit, specially for goggles and how warm they are.
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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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Monkfish, .Just fashion and something to get those tills rolling
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Monkfish, .Just fashion and something to get those tills rolling
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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My "chairlift survey"* in Austria a couple of weeks back had it at about 65-70%.
* This involves going up a chairlift and counting heads with/without. I also noticed that most people had a head. I didn't count those gopping idiots with the bunny ears etc on their helmet - they don't count by virtue of the fact they have clearly suffered a brain injury already.
Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Wed 20-02-13 17:10; edited 1 time in total
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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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Don't think it was anywhere near that in Les Contamines over Christmas. Maybe 60%. I am thinking of hiring a Go Pro and I guess if I did that I would hav to buy one which for no logical reason fills me with dread 
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Layne, chest mount it.
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You know it makes sense.
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2 well-reported accidents heightened awareness in Austria in 2009:
1) Natasha Richardson's death in Canada and 2) Dieter Althaus, the state governor of Thuringia, who was severely injured in a fatal collision with another skier in Austria.
Since then, helmets have become almost universal amongst Austrian/Danish/German/British skiers in Austria - although the Dutch still seem to consider them unneccessary (based on my observations in Saalbach this week, which is the busy Dutch holiday week).
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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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| Cynic wrote: |
| Monkfish, .Just fashion and something to get those tills rolling |
I banged my head pretty hard a couple of weeks ago. Wearing a helmet that day made the difference between having to sit down for 30 minutes as I was a bit shaky and needed to spit some blood out of my mouth, and probably having to quit for the day with a raging headache and maybe worse. Certainly not a fashion choice for me.
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Poster: A snowHead
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OK now we all wear helmets whats next, Spine protectors?
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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, In our survey less than 1% of helmet wearers look behind or to the side when at crossing of pistes, done at one of the most dangerous points in Val d' but this was not verifiable as the subjects possible didn't bother before.
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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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Cynic, I'm starting to love the deadpan fishing but the double posts are bit OTT.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Quote: |
OK now we all wear helmets whats next, Spine protectors?
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well if I'd been wearing my snowboarding armoured knickers 6 weeks ago today I doubt if I'd have fractured my pelvis.
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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 was shocked by the number of (daft IMO) tough guys wearing nothing on their shiny heads, in January with temps of -18. I asked one of them if he wasn't cold & he told me it was his hangover cure 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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pam w, so not spine protectors but armoured knickers for all 
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pam w, Silk, of course
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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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rob@rar, humour me. Because I know you are an honest bloke and really I am not anto-helmet. Just a bit middle aged and a born sceptic. How long were you skiing before you bought a helmet? And in all that time did you ever suffer some sort of head injury?
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He may say that but I was standing behind him in the lift queue a couple of days ago and he had a climbing helmet attached to the back of his pack and was wearing cat tracks on his ski boots.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Cynic wrote: |
| Bode Swiller, In our survey less than 1% of helmet wearers look behind or to the side when at crossing of pistes, done at one of the most dangerous points in Val d' but this was not verifiable as the subjects possible didn't bother before. |
This is absolutely true. If people knew and adhered to the FIS code and if they had bothered to acquire a sound technique and thought more about their chosen route/stopping places etc, the need for helmets would be zilch. There is no doubt that people "feel" safer wearing one but without using the contents of that helmet to think hard about their safety (and others) it's all pretty pointless actually.
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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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Yeah, well that's different. Falling rocks are things that are out of your own control.
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homers double,
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Mrs. D decided "she just wanted one" but it had to have a fury lining to keep her ears warm.
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Don't you just love the concept of a 'fury' [sic] lining?
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You know it makes sense.
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| Quote: |
Don't you just love the concept of a 'fury' [sic] lining?
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sounds like the headgear of someone singing in a Wagnerian chorus. With wings.
If I'd been wearing my snowboarding armoured knickers I probably wouldn't have fractured my pelvis 6 weeks ago.
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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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First year I wore one this time, and I can concur that a good majority of people we saw in VDI also wore them. I don't know what the tipping point was for me....maybe the accidents reported, maybe the threat that insurers are supposed to be starting down the route of not covering you unless you wear one.
I do have to say I got on quite well with it, didn't think I would, and found the added bonus that my goggles didn't get fogged up so much when I pushed them off onto my forehead, so to speak!
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Boredsurfing wrote: |
| OK now we all wear helmets whats next, Spine protectors? |
Spine protectors are compulsory for all French federation run races, the rule was introduced last winter.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Layne wrote: |
| rob@rar, humour me. Because I know you are an honest bloke and really I am not anto-helmet. Just a bit middle aged and a born sceptic. How long were you skiing before you bought a helmet? And in all that time did you ever suffer some sort of head injury? |
I don't wear one all the time, I especially don't like wearing one when I'm teaching. If I'm just pottering around, maybe a tour of hot chocolate stops with my girlfriend, then I won't wear one for that. But for skiing at a performance level I prefer to wear one - just feels more comfortable these days. I don't fall too often any more, but when I do it is often at high speed and has the tendency to hurt. As I mentioned, a couple of weeks ago I hit my head very hard on firm snow (having had one of my skis ripped off by a submerged block of ice), resulting in a bloody mouth from small cut inside my cheek and feeling extremely shaky to the point of having to take a break. I have no doubt I would have felt worse if I had just been wearing a hat. Previous time I hit my head as a result of a high speed fall I managed to land with another part of my body which meant the helmet didn't have to work too hard, although I did break a couple of ribs.
I first went skiing in 1979. First bought a helmet in about 2003 as a result of two things: mild confusion as a result of a heavy fall, which meant I lost two days of a ski course I was booked on to; and the first race training I did when a helmet was compulsory. Then, as now, I didn't wear a helmet every time I skied, although it's fair to say I wear one more often now than I did back in the first year or two of purchasing one.
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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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Announcing ...
International No-helmet Day
I may need a little help organising this. The idea is that no one wears a helmet and we see how many people die or suffer a serious head injury, compared to 'helmet days'.
A day in late spring might be a nice choice, so that everyone can re-discover the joys of the wind flowing through their hair (rather than living in a smelly sweat bucket).
[I don't anticipate much support from the helmet industry.]
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Helmet wearing round my way is nowhere near 95% - when I'm out there later in March I'll do some informal counts.
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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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pam w, yebbut as we've established your resort is very French and they all as an entire nation have a similar bunch of attitudes
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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It is probably just an increasing number of people who can't see a downside to wearing one. I've got to put something on my head, might as well put something that protects me on there. I am yet to find a coherent argument against doing it, just lots of people who "don't want to" - that's fine, but to get all defensive about people who choose to wear one seems a bit odd.
I agree with the observation, the number of people wearing them is increasing, in our visits to EK and 3V at the same time of year each year. I suspect because now for many beginners wearing a helmet is perfectly normal, and has been for 2-3 years, and as a result the majority of skiiers (because the majority of skiiers have been skiing less than 3 years) have "grown up" wearing a helmet, and it seems perfectly normal to them, and they'd feel a bit weird without it.
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Comedy Goldsmith, why do you suppose that helmet wearers are only concerned with injury. After trying one, I've never been remotely tempted to go back to a sweaty, itchy bobble-hat with no internal air flow.
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| pam w wrote: |
| Helmet wearing round my way is nowhere near 95% - when I'm out there later in March I'll do some informal counts. |
I felt that it was up on last winter, probably just too hard to fix a GoPro to a woolly hat.
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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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| Quote: |
After trying one, I've never been remotely tempted to go back to a sweaty, itchy bobble-hat with no internal air flow.
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+1 and, in my case, I enjoy the piped music.
The point about being able to stick your goggles up on top makes sense, too. And though helmets aren't great for hair, they're better than bobble hats. Especially in the rain.
In my area the helmet wearers tend to be younger - there are a lot of quite elderly skiers who have probably been skiing all their lives. Having hung on to their 'eighties suits they have the headbands to go with them.
Yes, the rate of helmet wearing is growing, but some way off 95%.
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| Comedy Goldsmith wrote: |
Announcing ...
International No-helmet And Avalanche Cord Day
I may need a little help organising this. The idea is that no one wears a helmet and we see how many people die...... |
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