 Poster: A snowHead
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| rob@rar wrote: |
| 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. |
Interesting. I wear goggles all the time on the mountain, so I guess that is why I haven't experienced the loss of peripheral vision - I've never skiied with better peripheral vision! But the argument is actually against goggles, not against helmets. You could easily wear sunglasses with your helmet and have all that peripheral vision back.
I agree - there are times when the risk is incredibly small, even smaller than the risk already is. I just find it easier to use the same gear no matter where I am, but I suspect you spend an awful lot more time skiing than we do, and I suppose pottering on a blue piste all day goes with the job, so changes to equipment are less of an inconvenience. The idea of going out without a helmet for the first 5 runs of the day and then going and getting it, or carrying it around, for the afternoon of reds and blacks is a bit bonkers, but not such an issue if you know you are teaching or skiing on the same blue pistes all day.
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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: |
| 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. |
See, you are a legend. I'm betting it was somewhere in the Alaskan back country, just over the ridge from where Warren Miller was filming, and you used your ice pick to open him up under the armpit and stuck a Biro in to drain off the air, while something by Dinosaur Jnr was playing in the background?
But I wonder if, while you were doing all that, your mate thought, 'Given that the "mountain craft" and "magical decisions" Bode taught me have somehow failed me here, it's a good job nothing exists which could have protected me against this injury, because if it did I might have made the mistake of wearing it, and I'd thus have missed out on this highly pleasurable experience.'
Still, it's a good story to tell down the pub.
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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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| Mistress Panda wrote: |
| Interesting. I wear goggles all the time on the mountain, so I guess that is why I haven't experienced the loss of peripheral vision - I've never skiied with better peripheral vision! But the argument is actually against goggles, not against helmets. You could easily wear sunglasses with your helmet and have all that peripheral vision back. |
Yes, my argument is against goggles, but I won't wear glasses with a helmet as I find it uncomfortable so it kind of means the same thing. If the weather is nice and I'm not going to be skiing fast then I much prefer sunnies.
| Quote: |
| I agree - there are times when the risk is incredibly small, even smaller than the risk already is. I just find it easier to use the same gear no matter where I am, but I suspect you spend an awful lot more time skiing than we do, and I suppose pottering on a blue piste all day goes with the job, so changes to equipment are less of an inconvenience. The idea of going out without a helmet for the first 5 runs of the day and then going and getting it, or carrying it around, for the afternoon of reds and blacks is a bit bonkers, but not such an issue if you know you are teaching or skiing on the same blue pistes all day. |
I certainly wouldn't head back to base just to pick up a helmet, but if I know I'm going to be skiing slowly all day because of the people I'm skiing with then I will often leave the helmet in the apartment/hotel. It's not a big deal - helmet or hat...
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Quote: |
You could easily wear sunglasses with your helmet and have all that peripheral vision back.
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You could then see all the people laughing at you (semi) behind your back.
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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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northernsoulboy, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. If you go to Google and do a search on Sense of Humour you'll find you don't have one.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Regarding the disadvantages it's a little difficult to use any kind of comfort argument as clearly "if" it is "significantly" safer then it wouldn't be a good reason not to. So that leaves any potential safety disadvantages. Now that report quoted in the thread claims they are all myths and there is no evidence to support them. Things that fall into this category include peripheral vision, earing loss and skiing with less care. Annecdotally I do seem to read of people who get helmets and subsequently quote situations where it has prevented injury. The difficult to answer question to me is whether the aforementioned "safety disadvantages" played any part. I'm not sure any report is going to pick these situations up. I'm also interested in rob@rar statement about skiing well within your safety margins limiting the whole point of doing it. I'm not convinced it is so black and white.
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| Bode Swiller wrote: |
| northernsoulboy, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. If you go to Google and do a search on Sense of Humour you'll find you don't have one. |
Top comeback.
OK, I'll say it very slowly, and without sarcasm.
You are using an injury to a friend of yours which was caused or at least exacerbated because (as you yourself say) there is no protective equipment which will guard against it as an argument against wearing protective equipment which does exist to protect against a different type of injury.
This is not a good argument.
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| Layne wrote: |
| Regarding the disadvantages it's a little difficult to use any kind of comfort argument as clearly "if" it is "significantly" safer then it wouldn't be a good reason not to. So that leaves any potential safety disadvantages. Now that report quoted in the thread claims they are all myths and there is no evidence to support them. Things that fall into this category include peripheral vision, earing loss and skiing with less care. Annecdotally I do seem to read of people who get helmets and subsequently quote situations where it has prevented injury. The difficult to answer question to me is whether the aforementioned "safety disadvantages" played any part. I'm not sure any report is going to pick these situations up. I'm also interested in rob@rar statement about skiing well within your safety margins limiting the whole point of doing it. I'm not convinced it is so black and white. |
Yes, I think the key question, for me, is, do helmets make you ski faster, and thus make accidents more likely and more serious?
The report says they don't. I'm not sure of their methodology, and I wonder if it's 100% true, or - as you say - black and white - but they are doctors and (don't tell Bode, I don't think he knows they exist) neurosurgeons and they've done a study, as opposed to 'betting you their house' on something they think.
When I ski, as I sometimes do, without my helmet, I ski well within myself. (I'm not saying this makes me safe, nothing can, see above.)
This is different from skiing over my ability (which everyone does sometimes) purely because I'm wearing a helmet.
Anyway, I've got to take the dog for a walk 
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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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| Layne wrote: |
| I'm also interested in rob@rar statement about skiing well within your safety margins limiting the whole point of doing it. I'm not convinced it is so black and white. |
It is for me, although other people will have their own opinions. If I was restricted to skiing situations where I had to guarantee that I wouldn't fall over when travelling at anything more than running pace then I would have given up skiing years ago. I like to ski terrain that sometimes challenges my ability. I like to ski snow where there is the possibility of hidden objects like rocks, branches or lumps of ice, I like skiing fast when the conditions allow, I like skiing through trees. All these situations provide some element of risk. I could avoid those risks all of the time by skiing well within my comfort zone, but what would be the point?
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Just for a bit of humour diversion ... Konrad Bartelski (who retains the record of Britain's highest ever result - 2nd - in a World Cup downhill) has a new helmet:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151521739428900&set=a.10150246942698900.367467.727733899&type=1&theater
If you can't see that photo, then Konrad's FB page is private to his friends (sorry about that!). I won't lift the photo without his consent.
I will, however, reveal that KB is currently skiing in Japan - Hakuba etc. - with Australian ex-downhiller Steve Lee as guide ...
... but the photo shows him in a Samurai warrior's headwear!
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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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| northernsoulboy wrote: |
| OK, I'll say it very slowly, and without sarcasm. |
Seriously, I don't need to engage with egotists who cannot have a simple argument without attaching snidey bollox. You need to find someone else to play with now.
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Wearing a helmet makes you look fat
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You know it makes sense.
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Cynic, a fine point, very well argued. But if your head looks bigger, shirley your torso looks slimmer?
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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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Comedy Goldsmith, interesting point you made about heading toward compulsion for wearing helmets while skiing. Who makes it compulsory?
The law in the country you are skiing in?
The insurance company (no cover if not wearing a helmet)?
Are there any countries where it is compulsory for an adult to wear a helmet skiing? Australia looks to be the only country where it's compulsory for an adult to wear a helmet cycling - is it compulsory to wear a helmet skiing?
No argument from me here, genuine questions. I wear a helmet cycling and skiing, but where my cycling club's committee took a vote to try and make it compulsory to wear a helmet on our events I voted against - everyone over the 18 should have a choice.
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Poster: A snowHead
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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've recently had a couple of emails regarding helmets, one that I should be setting an example by wearing a lid and secondly complaining about photos on Winterhighland showing people skiing without lids. What? Are you serious!!
That we have got to this point is essentially a triumph of marketing (often based on a completely discredited US report into head injuries in snowsports) in manipulating human fears to the point that it's now groupthink. I'm out of this thread (and any others on similar matters as I've broken my golden new year resolution).
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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.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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what if your head is too big?
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Bode Swiller, Comedy Goldsmith, thanks, interesting.
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| Bode Swiller wrote: |
| northernsoulboy wrote: |
| OK, I'll say it very slowly, and without sarcasm. |
Seriously, I don't need to engage with egotists who cannot have a simple argument without attaching snidey bollox. You need to find someone else to play with now. |
Back now. 'Seriously', if you read the thread you are the one who started the snide, with your crack about people knowing handy neurosurgeons.
You carried it on with your 'zzzz google sense of humour stuff.'
All because you made a series of crass arguments, and I had the temerity to point them out to you.
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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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I've worn a helmet since I started skiing 8 years ago. I've had to replace one after I knocked my noggin after a fall in fog. Mainly I wear it because it keeps my head and ears warm. It has easily adjustable vents for when I need to let the hot air out. I can't say it gives me a sense of security - false or otherwise.
My next helmet will be one with a visor. Apparently if you wear glasses it does away with the goggle fogging problem.
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| Winterhighland wrote: |
I've recently had a couple of emails regarding helmets, one that I should be setting an example by wearing a lid and secondly complaining about photos on Winterhighland showing people skiing without lids. What? Are you serious!!
I'm out of this thread (and any others on similar matters as I've broken my golden new year resolution). |
Winterhighland, some people are just f#ckwits.  I don't know why I joined in either but at least I can understand your POV now.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Jonny Jones wrote: |
| After trying one, I've never been remotely tempted to go back to a sweaty, itchy bobble-hat with no internal air flow. |
You've been buying the wrong hat. No issue with my merino Eisbar number. Peer-pressured in to a helmet. I hate it.
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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 remember when we went to Zell-Am-See in 2006 I only spotted one single helmet all week. The following year we went to Whistler in a group of friends, we were split into different ski lesson level classes. One of our friends came back shocked one day after their instructor had received a call from another instructor, who was teaching the husband of a lady in my friends class. The husband had fallen near the edge of a beginners run and bashed his head on a rock, they didn't think he was going to make it  Next morning we all went straight to the hire shop and got helmets, I've worn one ever since. Same for on my bike.
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| Cynic wrote: |
| Wearing a helmet makes you look fat |
haha
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You know it makes sense.
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| Quote: |
Quite frankly its beyond me the resistance to helmets - theyre warm confortable not sweaty
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For many, this is complete cr*p, I find wearing a helmet when skiing, even at -10 is hot, sweaty, itchy, bulky and all in all a very unpleasant experience
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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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tangowaggon, +1
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Quote: |
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.
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ME, I lasted about 2 hrs skiing in January before my head was so hot that I felt unwell, I guess I just have a hot head as I almost never wear a hat either
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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You need to get off the green runs
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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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For those wanting to wear a pot but sport an attractive panda eye tan I know a very good brand of glasses that are square topped to fit with a helmet, polarized, 100# UVa UVb resistant and photoreactive, so one can drive in them and ski up to glacier height.They also look and work splendidly with a traditional beanie
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Horses for courses. Some sweat lots, us lucky ones sweat little. Had my Bolle for 2 seasons now and wouldn't be with out it.
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FAQ
