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SerrceChe, my apologies for the not so wisely chosen characterizations in the previous post.

Its true that there is a lot of gear out there that you may or may not chose to buy according your risk/reward ratio. What my point was meant to be is that since you have the ability to comprehend the risks you should take at least the minimum possible precautions.

If you would like to apply the previous post into BC riding, then it would be for people that frequently hit the BC know the dangers that lie ahead but still don’t bother buying a beacon. Or like saying that I am an expert driver with full awareness of the road conditions, so I have all the means necessary to avoid an accident and don’t need to wear a sit belt. Better still compare it to riding a motorcycle or bike. You may or may not wear body armor touring suit etc but you should at least wear a helmet. In that case there is also a law about wearing a helmet and there is a good reason why that law was passed.

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No worries Tsonda.

I think we are on the same wave length when it comes to safety, it is just we have different risk/reward ratios.

 

I am by no means advocating that people go into the BC without proper gear given the fact that they may think they are good riders. Beacon shovel and probe are always top of the list.

 

If people see no impediments in wearing a helmet then they should get one it is a (almost free) option. The chances of a law forcing people to wear helmets on the slopes is probably remote but you never know.

 

I guess it also depends on riding style. I have read on this forum about a few people who were glad to have been wearing a helmet, most likely park riders. So why not.

 

Anyway Tsonda hope to catch some good lines with you this season, maybe you can then convince me that my hard head is worth the extra weight! ;\)

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TB, where are you going? I was trying to point out how using a piece safety equipment increases your chance of another injury and how it wouldnt influence people for using that item, nothing more - the end.

 

 

Serreche, I have been on the snow regularly for 16 seasons and only have used a helmet the past 2 when I woke up to my own lack of wisdom. I never would have had to use a helmet in those 14 years either despite the danger that existed at varying degrees and different times, I have never had to use my bicycle helmet when riding, a few friends have split theirs in half and are still normal and dont dribble out the corner of their mouths.

 

A helmet doesnt reduce my mtn awareness, no more so than a beanie covering my ears, it doesnt affect vision. It provides a basic and important level of protection to one of the few body parts body part that can not be fixed if damaged.

 

Freak accidents can occur anywhere anytime to anyone.

 

 Quote:
the other time the person cracked my ski boot. The time my ski boot cracked, my neck was f'd for weeks. Personally, I'm glad I wasn't wearing a helmet that time.
perhaps be glad you hadnt had another collision seconds earlier it was your boot not your head that took the brunt of the collision.
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 Quote:
An experienced snowboarder, Shawna Davis, reports that she was grateful to be wearing a helmet on the day she was injured. Shawna reports that she remembers riding the lift up with her husband, Jack, in the morning, but can’t recall anything more until she found Jack at the top of the mountain several hours later. He said he had been looking for her all day, but she couldn’t tell him where she was or what had happened. She did have a slight bruise under her goggles to indicate she had an accident. When Shawna asked repeatedly about their daughter’s whereabouts, Jack knew something was seriously wrong and flagged down ski patrol for help getting her off of the mountain.. The MRI revealed a minor concussion, and Shawna never regained memory of the accident itself, but continued to have major headaches for weeks after the injury.
taken from ezinearticles.com

I've concussed myself four times. The worst was waking up in hospital with no memory of the accident or the preceeding 2 hours. These were relatively low speed impacts (all non snow related). In hindsight I realise that these low impact head collisions have produced quite extreme reactions; all the symptoms of concussion (blurred vision, vomiting, memory loss, one hell of a headache) so the prospect of having a high speed head collision without a helmet is frightening. Maybe I am risk averse regarding head injury but sometimes we can't imagine the consequences of our actions until its too late. I think its a bit of a deadend saying that a helmet wont help you if you're rear ended, or your skill means that you'll never collide with a tree, or you never ride park etc etc. I think a helmet will save your head from caving in as a result of an accident you didn't forsee, and that could be anything.

I think helmets are so light and unintrusive now it seems perverse not to wear them. Considering how much we spend on kit its a very small outlay.But I wouldn't suggest they should be mandatory. There are numerous logical reasons for wearing one but none for not. If you don't want to wear one and that you accept the associated risks thats fine,and when evangelical helmet wearers try to convert you to the cause, don't get into a philosophical arguement, just shrug your shoulders and say :rolleyes:
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Torihada, 4 concussions?! eek.gif

Are you involved in some pro sport of some kind?

Sounds like a helmet is defenitely a must in your situation.

 

I think my profile is more like SG's, having ridden for many years without one.

 

Do you guys do a lot of hiking with your helmet or do you wear it mostly inbounds?

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SC; nope, just a clumsy git. Maybe I just have an oversized head ;\)

 

My first concussion was aged 6 or 7. I was hospitalised for that one as well now I remember (can't have been that bad, I remember it) Last was when I was 19 or 20.

 

I haven't done it for about 20 years now. I must have learnt something. I had a tumble off my bike a couple of months ago; straight over the handlebars and the first point of contact with the road was my helmet. I saw stars. If I hadn't had the helmet I would have had concussion at best.New helmet next day.

 

Anyway I'm in the middle of preparing gear for fourthcoming trip and there's 4 snow/ski helmets lined up on the floor. I need another suitcase \:D

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A day in the sun rolling on groomers = no helmet

A day trying to progress yourself = helmet

 

Fullface helmets look mean, I like to put mine on and throw my body off things that are way out of my league. It does wonders for my confidance. I just close my eyes and pretend im Seth Morrison, sometimes I don't even land on my head.

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Helmets are so steezy these days, you'd have to be unsteezy NOT to wear one. \:D

 

Me, I have to use my head for my job, so if I lose brain function by concussing myself, it'll really put the kaibosh on my career, social life, etc.

 

I've cracked my head on ice enough times to know I wouldn't want to do it without a helmet. Plus the one time I did hit a tree wasn't due to my (lack of skillz), I got cut off by another skier. There are just too many unknown variables out there on the mountain.

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This is my first post, I've been lurking here for a while and have a trip booked to Niseko in early Feb, and this was a question I asked myself, should I take my helmet? And the more that I thought about it, the more I thought well it shouldn't matter where I ski, skiing is a dangerous sport, and perhaps the only reason why I didn't think I would pack my helmet is because it would take up too much space in my bag. Well thats not much of a decision, time to buy a bigger bag to fit the helmet in.

 

I had a bad accident at Mt Hotham 3 years ago, that had me in a neck brace for 4 days, with concussion and suspected neck fractures. Scary stuff having an MRI with a headache that lasts for 3 days, and not something I want to repeat.

 

Back before the accident I thought, nah I'm a careful skier, and I've been skiing for 20 odd years, why do I need a helmet?

 

Well then I had the accident. And that attitude changed really quickly.

 

I bought a helmet, and I've never looked back. I respect other peoples opinions and rights, and helmets might not be for them, but chances are if you're thinking about getting a helmet, you should.

 

Because you have reached that point where you are questioning your own safety, and I don't like having to think about how safe I am when I should be enjoying myself. A helmet for me is just a nice piece of mind that I'm giving my head the best chance of survival if things go wrong.

 

I don't mind that my helmet will take up a fair bit of space in my bag, because it's something I know that I need.

 

But make up your own mind (excuse the pun)

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Well everyone had lot of good advice, and stories, and you will all be proud to know that I just purchased a Giro 9 off ebay for a whopping $31.

Let`s just hope the other guy didn`t have some funky head and packed out the padding in some crazy way.

 

I still realize that wearing a helmet is a personal choice, but thinking about mtb biking, and rock climbing, I have always worn a helmet so why not riding. Especially since my riding is progressing and I am becoming more aggresive in the trees and dropping bigger things. I quess when you really think about it, It certainly can`t hurt me, besides maybe a sprained neck....

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The poly inner shell of helmets is only designed to absorb one hit, and the helmet doesn't do squat to protect after that.

 

If your $31 met has taken a hit, its not worth a yenny. And sometimes you can't tell visually if has or not. Given what you're going to be using it for, If it looks even remotely scratched when it arrives, I would just throw it out and get a brand new one.

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>The poly inner shell of helmets is only designed to absorb one hit, and the helmet doesn't do squat to protect after that.

 

 

This is how much of a truth I wonder? It applies to stiff shelled motorcycle helmets designed to take 100kmph cracks on the sidewalk. It also applies to one-hit mountaineering helmets with no hi-density foam, just a plastic shell and a webbing inner: effective protection against a golf ball sized rock falling from 100m above you. But what about ski helmets?

 

If it is an absolute truth then it is another reason why helmets are impractical in reality even though they sound good in theory. Many of us do a lot of travelling and back packing during which time the helmet is usually in ones board bag or strapped onto your board which is in turn strapped to the back of your pack half way up some mountain where you don’t have the luxury of treating your combined gear and pack like a delicate bouquet of 24 roses. By the end of a season the helmet looks battered from this alone, forget any damage from actual usage. And so it should be battered, it is subject to constant impact activity, so much so that I recently threw one of mine away after the outer shell began to delaminate from the inner foam and one of the 4 strap attachment points broke free. The helmet was clearly stuffed yet I didn’t take one head impact all season.

 

Pretty soon the evangelistic ranting helmet-or-die contingent will be advocating passionately about the importance of keeping your helmet in a protective shell when in transit or not on your head. Dear god: helmets for helmets. Where will it end?

 

I tell you what, I wear a helmet because I don’t want a bleeding scalp nor a nasty crack to the skull from trees, rocks, ice or the stuff strapped to my back pack if I crash on descent. I don’t expect it to save my life in a big impact and therefore so what if it has had a few knocks over the season and offers diminished protection? If you wear a ski helmet for the same protection a motorcyclist hopes to get from his then I recommend you don’t bother skiing at all.

 

If I wanted that kind of protection in life, I wouldn’t do the things that I do.

 

It’s a Personal Choice.

 

Excuse me? It’s a what? Piss the [censored] off! \:\)

 

I chose unsmoked ham for my sandwich tonight, that was a personal choice. But gee, somehow it doesn't seem necessary to label it as such. Likewise my personal choice to wear a pair of socks to work tomorrow that don't match. Wow, life is rich with personal choices.

 

No, I don't think that is the intended vibe of the phrase 'personal choice'. I think it is used for another reason.

 

The fact that it has reached the stage where helmet usage is quasi-meaningfully described as a “personal choice” shows just how ridiculous the topic has become. Toilet paper softness, pads vs tampons, funeral arrangements – they deserve the categorisation of personal choices. A helmet is a helmet, they protect your head from some degree of injury, like them or lump them, what ever goes is fine with me. Just please don’t patronisingly suppress your righteous opinions (when generally, none was sought in the first place) by deferring the synthetically engineered touchy issue as “a personal choice”.

 

The only personal choices I see being made here relate to stick dimensions along with the firmness with which each person has decided to lodge chosen stick in their arse.

 

The crazy thing is that this post will be seen as me arguing against helmet use!

 

init.

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no actually it was quite clear that your opinion is advocating helemts, but what it also clearly demonstrates is that you have a propensity to overanalyse a philosophize a phrase that clearly everyone understands except you. Or you are just looking to start an arguement, but the fact remains that no one is mandating that people must wear helmets and if they did then that would undermine the nature of freedom. I am sure your life has the utmost value and maybe more than anyone elses on this forum and for that maybe helmets should be mabdatory, but other are grown up enough to make their own decisions, but maybe you were taking from your mommy a bit to soon so you someone else to make those decisions for you..... if you want to wear one then do so, but don:t sit there and tell me that my personal choice is in fact not a inherant freedom that I posses......so faaac offf yourself!

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taken from tgr:

 

BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. -- A 20-year-old Oregon skier died Sunday after hitting a tree at Summit County's Keystone Resort.

 

Summit County Coroner Joanne Richardson says Benjamin Hawk of Portland, Ore. was skiing with friends on the intermediate Spring Dipper run Sunday afternoon when he lost control and struck a tree.

 

He was not wearing a helmet and suffered severe head injuries.

 

Hawk was airlifted to St. Anthony's Central Hospital in Denver, where he was pronounced dead Sunday evening.

 

Richardson says Hawk attended Oklahoma Wesleyan University in Bartlesville, Okla., and was skiing with friends from school.

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For all skill levels I think yes. Beginning of this year my girlfriend fell over halfway down an intermediate slope on Happo on a reasonably icy day.

 

Just as she was getting up, an out of control snowboarder came down and ran over her head. This was the one time during the trip that she didn't have her helmet on and she's lucky that there was no brain injury.

 

Helmet (here in Aus) = $200

Dying/injury > $200 and what's more, it's embarrassing for your family when they have to explain how you died.

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oi potato,

 

I used the phrase 'personal choice' in response to EBCs effort to make this a more entertaining thread with a weak attempt to get me to post some "anti-helmet" wearing opinions, as she knows I don't wear one (most of the time).

I used the phrase to deflect this, rather than answer it, as even if i did have anti-helmet opinions (such as your all a bunch of over-equiped, under-skilled desk jockeys buying courage in the form of a helmet) WHICH I DON'T, then i wouldn't write them because you can't tell people not to wear helmets.

What I meant was you can try to convince others TO wear helmets, and possibly bask in your moral superiority (sic) when they avoid serious head injury, if that floats your boat, but you can't convince someone not to wear one, and then avoid a small degree of guilt when they do get clobbered - assuming they didn't wear one as a result of your elegant arguaments against helmets - see below:

 

There are really no arguaments against wearing helmets besides "I prefer my bobble hat" (hence personal choice - people should make their own minds up).

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For what it's worth, I just bought one - a Giro. Looks a bit crazy but feels good, and protective.

 

I also have therm-ic boot heater packs this year; hopefully less time in the onsen afterwards thawing out my feet.

 

Anyone got experience with those?

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less time in the onsen? what exactly is good about LESS time in an onsen? hot water, nakedness, thawing out.... bring it on.

 

one of AK's arguments goes something like this - if you wear a helmet you are buying yourself extra courage, so you go extra hard, take more chances, think you can do anything... and thus have more chance of hurting yourself.... and anyway, you could fall on your spine, not your head, so what difference does it make.

 

but i'd rather protect myself where you can. i would have taken myself out in nz had i not been wearing mine.... and i'll say it again, what freaked me out was that i definitely WOULD have skied that little cliff line without a helmet. that's good enough for me personally. i'll be wearing my hat in the bar baby.

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