Helmets, Time to weigh in.

[bumpyride]

Ski areas to require more helmet use

Employees at Vail Resorts will be required to wear helmets while skiing or snowboarding on the job starting with the 2009-2010 season. Vail also will require helmets for all children age 12 and under who take group lessons through its schools. The policy will be in force at all five of its resorts: Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone in Colorado and Heavenly in California.

Vail Resorts worked on details of the policy for more than a year. The announcement comes a month after the death of actress Natasha Richardson. The 45-year-old died of head injuries after falling on a beginner slope at Mont Tremblant ski resort in Quebec. Richardson was not wearing a helmet. Her death has prompted officials in Quebec to consider making helmets mandatory on ski hills.

An estimated 43 percent of all skiers and snowboarders at resorts used helmets, according to a 2007-2008 demographic study by the National Ski Areas Association, which strongly recommends helmets for all ages.

[tex1230]

per my comment in the natasha richardson thread...

I don't care if you wear a helmet or not...but If I was writing an insurance policy for a ski area I'd damn sure include that at a minimum.

[D-Sub]

private businesses can, or at least should be able to, require anything they want.

If I could find a helmet that didn't make me look hydrocephalic, I'd be into it.

[tex1230]

If I could find a helmet that didn't make me look hydrocephalic, I'd be into it.

'cause being a good looking vegetable is important?

I just switched to a full face, fulfilling all of my youthful Darth Vader fantasies.

[b0ardski]

Actually I'm suprised that helmet use isn't required for park use already (nothing like a head bonk on the rail), like it is to use the lifts with Mt bikes.

Employees setting an example for customers is normal business practice, and somewhat overdue saftey measures for ski areas are inevitable.

I do believe requiring helmets for all customers will create a backlash until such a time as the example is mainstream.

The opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of the management of b0ardski INC.

[carvedog]

private businesses can, or at least should be able to, require anything they want.

If I could find a helmet that didn't make me look hydrocephalic, I'd be into it.

I am a jug head myself but I like the Giro that I got last year. I find that I ride faster and harder with it. And if you add music I go even faster cuz I can't hear the whipping of my clothes at speed - which scares me.

Helmet all the way. I even wear mine in the trees now - which I didn't used to do. Don't ask me why - I couldn't tell you.

[shawndoggy]

That the ski/board instructors and race team coaches at my mountain DON'T wear helmets kills me.

I'm way over worrying what I look like (LOL, I wear giant mittens for goodness sake!), and I find I actually prefer a helmet... it's warm and has built in tunes that I can still hear with.

I'd say that helmets actually ARE the norm among 'core skiers and boarders. Seems more like newbies, old-school-stein-ericksen-sweater types, and the aforementioned coaches and instructors who constitute most of the unprotected noggins I see.

[Snowman]

Cheapest insurance money can buy. Your a damn fool to not wear one.

[Cindy Kleh]

I agree with the Kresster.

"Old-school-stein-ericksen-sweater types" ... LOL! I can just see some of the elite ski and snowboard school pretty hair types hating this new work requirement. But seriously, injury prevention aside, I find that helmets give me less severe hairdos than hats. After a few years of wearing one, you'll feel wierd not having one on while snowboarding. And, you have one more place to put your sponsors stickers.

[SuperBee]

If I was a ski hill owner ( or the insurance company ), I would required all rental people to wear an helmet. 99% of them are beginners, most of them at their first days of ski/snow. Mountain biking rental at my ski hill required an helmet, but not ski/snow :confused:

Learning to ski/snow with an helmet should be mandatory

[AlpineUndertaker]

How many of you guys wear a hat or a beanie under your helmet? Just curious. I personally can't fit a hat, my hemet doesn't feel right.

[Galen]

How many of you guys wear a hat or a beanie under your helmet? Just curious. I personally can't fit a hat, my hemet doesn't feel right.

I dont think you could get a snug enough fit with standard thickness cap. I wear a thin fleece balaclava for cold days, plenty warm, a lycra cap on warmer days to keep the helmet from stinking up.

[Dave Pushee]

How many of you guys wear a hat or a beanie under your helmet? Just curious. I personally can't fit a hat, my hemet doesn't feel right.

I started wearing one of these http://www.performancebike.com/shop/Profile.cfm?SKU=16691&item=10-3507&slitrk=search&slisearch=true

under my bike helmet to control sweat. Works great under the snowboard helmet too.

[Mellow Yellow]

[crucible]

If it's below freezing, then I wear a Patagonia wool beanie under my helmet; for Spring Skiing, I wear a microfiber Buff rolled up as a beanie.

My helmets have ratcheting suspensions so that I can tighten it up snugly against the beanie.

[bobdea]

If it's below freezing, then I wear a Patagonia wool beanie under my helmet; for Spring Skiing, I wear a microfiber Buff rolled up as a beanie.

My helmets have ratcheting suspensions so that I can tighten it up snugly against the beanie.

if you can get a hat under your helmet, the fit is wrong unless have one of those adjustable size ones.

[bumpyride]

I wear the thinnest balaclava I can find as it keeps the powder out of my nose, but only when there's knee deep or better.

The hair factor is no longer a factor--sadly I must say. That either comes with age and maturity or resignation or I just don't give a sh-t attitude. Or maybe it's just a little too much gray to care.

[Ray]

I just switched to a full face, fulfilling all of my youthful Darth Vader fantasies.

Watch out, a full face has its good and bad. It sure saved my nose/jaw years back in Mammoth when I caught an edge which resulted in an unreal face plant... but had to deal with a whiplash, concussion and neck pain:barf: The chin guard has the tendency to push the head back in a frontal collision. Not sure if it has the power to break the neck (who knows!), but make sure the helmet is designed with a chin guard not protruding too much out/away from the face.

Another annoying issue, the chin guard gets contact with the snow (when low!) and creates a very "surprising scary noise" on hard corduroy… it can also rattle your head a little ;)

[carvedog]

Another annoying issue, the chin guard gets contact with the snow (when low!) .......

Braggart.

[SEJ]

Bicycle, motorcycle, or snowboard, I never leave home without it. It would be interesting to see how many people who don't wear them boarding think it's a good idea on a motorcycle. Speed plus a hard surface plus fixed objects, I personally see no difference.

[tex1230]

Watch out, a full face has its good and bad. It sure saved my nose/jaw years back in Mammoth when I caught an edge which resulted in an unreal face plant... but had to deal with a whiplash, concussion and neck pain:barf: The chin guard has the tendency to push the head back in a frontal collision. Not sure if it has the power to break the neck (who knows!), but make sure the helmet is designed with a chin guard not protruding too much out/away from the face.

I can't believe it can be worse than a racing chin bar, and I wore one of those for years (and several spectacular crashes) without ever having the bar increase the torque on my neck, that I noticed. And I crached a LOT harder in races than I ever have freecarving.

[Keenan]

Ski racers wore helmets for years before it became common among the recreational crowd. Car racers have worn helmets for years, I have decided to start a new safety movement and will be wearing a driving helmet from now on. In 20 years people will look back and say "I can't believe I used to drive without a helmet."

[OhD]

Another annoying issue, the chin guard gets contact with the snow (when low!) and creates a very "surprising scary noise" on hard corduroy… it can also rattle your head a little ;)

On the other hand, you could save on gloves by dragging your head instead of your hands...

[loopback]

Ski areas to require more helmet use

The announcement comes a month after the death of actress Natasha Richardson. The 45-year-old died of head injuries after falling on a beginner slope at Mont Tremblant ski resort in Quebec. Richardson was not wearing a helmet. Her death has prompted officials in Quebec to consider making helmets mandatory on ski hills.

Instructors don't seem to wear them (@ Tremblant anyway)....When the Natasha R story became front page news I recall the spokeswoman from Tremblant stating that the instructor who was giving her the private lesson "argued" for several minutes with her to wear the helmet before her lesson; she refused (obviously).

Having spent over 22 days at Tremblant this year and having done roughly the same amount of days/yr for at least the last 5 yrs I would say at most that 1 out of 10 instructors are wearing a bucket while teaching at Tremblant. If I owned/operated/managed a ski hill I would not have any instructors on the hill who refused to wear a helmet while working.

I can't imagine how Mrs Richardsons instructor could have talked her into wearing a helmet if he wasn't wearing one himself. Generally speaking the "do as I say not as I do" argument doesn't fly very well; particularly with teenagers who usually take the larger risks

I wish I could have recorded the conversation I overheard between a father and his young teenage son @ Tremblant; the father spent 10+ minutes arguing with his son on why he should wear his helmet to which the kid simply replied

"then why don't you wear one Dad?"

If you wouldn't let your kid MTB, skate or ride without a helmet why would you jeopardize the person they depend on the most by doing the same thing?

It's another sad commentary on our society when we have to legislate common sense.

//Paul

[Neil Gendzwill]

The following couple of days I felt like I had been hit by a Mack truck and could not lift my head without holding the back of my neck.... The nauseous puke factor did not help much either.

Will need a new helmet next season after that one.

You very likely have a concussion. See a doctor if you haven't already. I've had 4 judo friends get concussed this year, and if you don't take it seriously you can be in big trouble.