Skiers, do you use helmets?

[Flicker]

Saw a frightening piece on BBC this morning about potential head injuries caused skiing and snowboarding. We all religiously don our headgear before getting on our horses, but who wears a helmet on the slopes?
Should they be compulsory?

 

[worMy]

i dont for skiing,
but do for snowboarding,
and i dont think it should be compulsory, i would not be amused if it was, im a proficient skiier, at home on blacks, am sensible and very rarely fall, so would not want to have one.

snowboarding however,,u catch an edge and smack down hard--whiplash etc,,and smack head,,espec on flat bits, hense why i have a helmet for that.

 

[eggs]

I don't wear a helmet for skiing but always wear a hat riding.

I have noticed however that more and more adults are wearing helmets skiing (I ski in Switzerland). We ski with VERY good (Swiss army) skiers and they all wear helmets now. Was speaking to a head injuries surgeon the other day and he recommended wearing a helmet so I think I will be buying one.

 

[MissSBird]

No I don't and never will. The way ski helmets are constructed the vast majority obstruct your perepheral vision and all affect your hearing. I mainly ski off-piste these days and would like to be able to hear an avalanche should one occur; then my chances of survival are slightly higher.

The only equipment I religious wear is my avalanche transceiver and backpack with shovel, probe etc.

My sister is a snowboarder. She always wears her helmet - I think my dad forced her to at first because she was doing tricks. Now she's a racer and hardly touches jumps but she still wears it.

I can understand a ski school needing it for insurance purposes in childrens classes; but to force grown adults to is nuts.

Then again; I am of the same opinion with riding helmets. If you know the risks then it is your own choice.

 

[Baggybreeches]

I don't wear a helmet to ski, but I am going to purchase one next time I go. I am a relatively good skier comfortable on reds and blacks, but the protection they offer as well being incredibly warm makes it a no-brainer.
BTW my husband won't wear one or his friend who is a former instructor!

BTW I always wear a hat to ride!

 

[barbaraNcolin]

I have recently *learnt* to snowboard (having never snowboarded or ski'd) at our local dry ski slopes and we all had to wear helmets, adults and children, for insurance purposes. I'm going back for the improver lessons for the rest of this season and we are hoping to get away on holiday next winter for my first snowboarding holiday. I will be purchasing a helmet along with the rest of essential kit, as the same with riding, I don't think I would feel comfortable without one on and the protection they give cannot be compared.
Being prepared to be shot down, but I think it's the same thing with riding hats way back in the day and the same thing with hi-viz nowadays, some people don't think it's fashionable.

 

[kerilli]

i don't wear one for skiing, but would if i tried snowboarding, for the reasons given above.
i'm competent but i don't push myself really hard on the slopes, the falls i've had have all bruised my pride and my bum more than anything else! because of how i ski (relatively carefully, as i'm aware i have to get back in 1 piece to ride horses!) i think the chances of me hitting my head are slight.

 

[lhotse]

I've snowboarded for the last 11 years and have never worn a helmet, however, this year I was struggling to keep up with my skier sister (she's got pretty good!!)and unless you are prepared to go full throttle on a board, you'll never keep up with a skier. The thing holding me back was the thought of catching that back edge and my brains spewing out all over the piste. I'm going to buy a helmet next year!!
We are also taking my neice and nephew next year and they will need to wear a helmet so if we have one on then they are more likely to accept it.
I think that for off piste, I would rather have nothing over my ears (except my hat), as has been said, a helmet would infringe your awareness of the environment and you really need to be on the ball. However, riding off piste has it's own dangers for head injury, namely hidden rocks and trees.
So, although I will be buying one for hard pack pistes, I very much doubt that it'll be worn all the time.

 

[Baggybreeches]

Oh K, you are like the good side of my brain which tells me not to do mad stuff! The bad side normally wins though.

 

[nicky_jakey]

I've just bought a helmet for my coming skiing holiday.

I saw a couple of nasty accicents on the slopes last year, both ending up being air lifted off the slopes with serious head injuries. The thoughts are that the severity of the injuries could have been prevented with the use of helmets.

 

[kerilli]

[ QUOTE ]
Oh K, you are like the good side of my brain which tells me not to do mad stuff! The bad side normally wins though.

[/ QUOTE ]
haha, it's hard-won good sense though.
this is after getting a bit too tiddly at lunchtime one day, going to the top of a black run, setting off, and the last thing i remember thinking is "oh, my knee hurts, i can't be bothered to put any turns in" and gaily attempting to schuss it...

i think i passed out due to alcohol as i hit the deck (most impressively, according to mates) and came to, facing the snow, digging my fingers in to slow down like a cat going down a window...!

 

[MissDeMeena]

I'm a qualified snowboard instructor, and have never worn a helmet, however when trying to keep up with skier friends, i often felt rather vulnerable, with the thought that i'm a much better horse rider than i am board rider, and i always wear a hat riding, yet even on the racehorses prob. haven't reached the speeds i do on a board..

 

[KatB]

Nope, I blade more than anything, and have never owrn a helmet, however, if I was boarding, I would, only cos the majority of the time I spent boarding was falling over, so I wouldnt feel safe without one!!!!

 

[Rambo]

I've skiied for nearly 20 years now...and i am very competent down blacks and off-piste. I have never worn a helmet...but have to admit the last couple of times i've been have seriously considered buying one

I ski at a fairly fast pace...and would never consider riding a horse without a hat....so why wouldn't i wear a helmet to ski at 70mph+

What i would say is this...if you're thinking of buying a helmet...buy it in the UK...it's a hell of a lot cheaper than 'in resort' at the moment

 

[connie1288]

You will not get me to wear a helmet skiing!!! If it is compulsory i will just not bother going simple!! Same theory and wearing one when riding my head my choice, i can see that the ski schools have to make you wear one, thats the same a pony club, but what i do in my own time is up to me!!

 

[fuzz]

I work at a dry slope and at ours people are only required to wear a helmet when doing any jumps and rails, or when racing. Children are encouraged to wear them for lessons but its not required.

When I'm snowboarding on the dry slope I never wear a helmet, but when I go onto snow I always wear a helmet. I was forced to as a kid, I its now something I do automatically. I couldn't imagine snowboarding on snow without one incase I caught an edge and smack my head off the slope. I never wear one when I ski (very occasionally now) even when I go off piste. Was never made to when I started to ski so never had.

 

[Persephone]

I snowboard and yes, I wear one!

 

[ESH]

I have skied for over 30 years now and very comfortable on and off piste, I also ski at a reasonably slow pace, compared to my ski companions.

I started noticing the increase in helmets in america a few years ago and in talking to lots of people that do wear them, it seems that a lot of people comment about what happens if someone else crashes into you, or by chance you ski into a tree or fall and land on a rock.

It made me think more about it as it made me realise allthough I very rarely fall these days, what happens about the other people around me. I have on numerous occasions been wiped out by snowboarders out of control and been left winded by them landing on me.

This year on the last day of my skking holiday I was skiing in poor visability, caught my ski on bare bit of rock that I hadn't seen and fell missing my head hitting a rock by about 1 inch.

I know what I shall be wearing next year!

Actually I'm also tempted to think about wearing my body protector, as someone was killed, at the resort I was in, by crashing into a tree and damaging his Aorta. I believe he was wearing a helmet but it wasn't a head injury that killed him.