Helmets

G

Greenberger

Member
Hi NS,

I am only active normally in the videos section, watching a lot, commenting sometimes, and posting a few of my own, but I wanted to post in here to promote more helmet use.

I ride park city every day, and in the past five days I have seen some scary stuff - all 3 incidents involving people not wearing helmets.

Five days ago, I was on the chair and saw a group of kids around their friend who was completely unconscious and I called patrol for them, the helicopter came about 20 minutes later. I'm not sure what happened, but it clearly involved hitting his head and whether or not a helmet would have saved the day, I'm not sure but it certainly wouldn't of hurt.

Yesterday, I saw ski patrol administering CPR on a man who was in a collision out of the park and that was not pleasant to see. From what I understand, he was not wearing a helmet.

Today around 3 PM, I saw this snowboarder overshoot the last feature which is a bonk feature where it seems like not much can go wrong, but he went deep and landed high on his back and slammed his head and immediately went into a violent seizure. I called ski patrol, who responded amazingly fast, and the helicopter was landing 15 minutes later.

I know people think helmets are uncomfortable, or uncool, or whatever, but head safety is not a funny joke. What I've seen in the past 5 days has been pretty rattling and I hope to influence at least one of you if not more.

If you can afford to ski or snowboard, you can afford a helmet. You have one chance at life and taking care of your head seems to be pretty important to me.

Take a minute and think about it, if you wear one tell your friends that don't to consider wearing one.

That is all.

Thanks,

Jeremy Greenberger

 
not wearing a helmet in a park full of metal and ice hard features is quite dumb, especially when throwing down big tricks. really sucks for those people. I'd think somewhere like PC would have mandatory helmets in the park.
 
well americans are all like live free of die... so be it ,die.

but seriously like someone said above it's just stupid to not wear a helmet, give me one good arguments as to why someone shouldnt wear a helmet
 
There's like no shame in wearing a helmet. And even if you think that it takes away style. Then maybe you can sticker it up a bit. Show some brand passion
 
i can completely understand why people dont bother to wear helmets, you're skiing, throwing down risky stuff in a park full of metal and ice, its dangerous, with or without a helmet you have to accept the risk. you can wear a back protector, pads, wrist guards, etc.. to try to make it "safer" but at some point if you cant accept that what you are doing is dangerous, dont do it. theres also a certain level of freedom and trust in yourself, its an awesome feeling that you get when you just say "fuck it" to whatever risks there are and just continue on not acknowledging any of them. making the environment safer ruins a lot of the rush and feeling you get, i know i wouldnt have any interest in skiing if there werent a good amount of risk associated with it.

its like when you go backpacking for a couple days in the mountains by yourself without a pack full of emergency equipment, gps, a planned out route that you've given someone. it defeats a lot of the purpose, i like the feeling of complete 100% freedom and reliance on myself, that feeling and self trust/responsibility 99% of people completely lack today, i personally love the feeling, and its the only reason im even into it. something about acknowledging that life is full of risks and going out and seeking/conquering them and conquering your own fears is extremely rewarding.

that all being said, i wear a helmet when i ski, when i have one on i dont even realize that im wearing it, the thought that im a little bit safer doesnt really enter my mind, you can still fuck yourself over and/or die with a helmet. so i figure why not? but when i forget my helmet i still go out and ski just as hard.
 
I have never once hit my head skiing where a helmet would have helped.

I realize it only takes one time(the reason i wear one) but all the scratches on my helmet have come from people slamming the chair lift bar down on my head, or me generally teating it like shit.

I am just very used to tucking, rolling, and protecting my head when i crash. You usually get a glimpse of the area you will be crashing, and you generally know what position you will be in when you reach the area, so you can generally choose which body part takes the brunt of the impact. I say generally, because you cant control a tomahawk. But you shouldnt be tomahaking into gnarly areas either- you arent filming, or competeing in a big mtn comp.

 
I've walked away from two crashes where I've broken a helmet - crashes that would have killed me based on the chunks missing from the helmet. And one of them was just from catching an edge on a boring traverse I'd done hundreds of times and tipping over into a cliff band. You don't have to be doing something gnarly or impressive to get seriously messed up. In fact I'd say most injuries come from doing comfortable things that go slightly wrong.
 
The only days I don't wear my helmet is gaper day and sometimes when I'm shredding groomers or bumps (and did crashed pretty hard, losing sight in my right eye for like 5 min so scratch this one out). So yeah, wear yo helmet!
 
They actually made a law in Nova Scotia Canada (where im from) that says you must wear a helmet at all times or you will get a fine. I wear a helmet all the time anyway but I still think that spending government money to enforce it is BS.
 
Helmets are the shit I love them. I love my helmet. It's extremely thug (has 2 Murder By Blunt die cuts) and it keeps me nice and safe!
 
especially on the east coast where we are landing on 100% ice I still see a lot of kids in the park with no helmet. Ive fallen onto the ice pretty hard which has left my head rattled in a helmet and probably could have been a lot worse if I weren't wearing one. so ya. wear a helmet.
 
I got a super bad concussion with a helmet on last season. The doctor told me if I didn't have one on there was a good chance I would have died or been super fucked up mentally. I don't really care if people wear them or not, I personally know I wouldn't ride with out one
 
I'd like to hear your guys' input on this: how about all those pros (e.g. the new PC opening day edit or TC or whatnot) that don't wear helms? Do you think it is any less unsafe? I feel like it's a bit better because they have their tricks dialed so well, like twall. This may sound stupid, but they also probably have more control of their fall/control in general.

I did see a really good point up there about how most bad falls are on casual things. I agree fully. Last season I was just speed checking near the entrance to a TP and caught my edges. I faceplanted reallly hard and my goggles cut up my face. Concussion without helmet? Probably.

Last week I was just jumping 180 to go switch, caught an edge and hit the back of my head pretty hard. I saw stars for a second. Concussion without a helmet? Probably.

That being said, I rarely fall very hard in the park even though I can try some hard stuff. I usually just slide out or land on my back or something. If I'm seshing some rails and/or hiking some rails, I'll go without poles or helmet, (no poles because they're just extra space and no helm because it gets HOT) but if I ever do jumps or just shred around I will put on the bucket. I also don't during summer setups...

Shit happens, you aren't invincible. Try to wear It whenever, it's always a good choice. I've been VERY lucky to have been always wearing a helmet whenever I get into a bad crash, somehow. And don't worry, It still looks cool, for all you fashonistas. Think before you ride.

 
The only possible reason I could see someone not wearing a helmet was a point brought up in a similar thread, it shows confidence in what they are doing, with that being said I would never go without a helmet for anything more then cruising a green run with my little brother on a warm day. Little things can go wrong very quickly and very easily ou can catch your edge on a rail and go straight to your head or catch your edge on a spot of slush or ice and smash your head.

I apologize for any spelling mistakes I'm on mobile
 
i always wear one while in the park. I take some pretty hard falls, especially when trying new tricks. ive already hit my head fairly hard twice this season, probably would have gotten mild concussions if i didnt have a helmet on
 
Wear a helmut just in case... it's a no-brainer.

They also keep you warmer than any beanie.

The downside is impeded bio-energy a bit, and it won't stop concussion from hard landings on bottom surface of brain. These jet style helmuts look interesting:http://goo.gl/ofS9M are there any ski helmets that offer the visor?
 
great post... unfortunately for many, it will probably take a serious accident for that moment of clarity to realize that... "yeah, it can happen to me."

 
We should respect people's decision not to wear them, because overpopulation is a serious problem and will continue to be in terms of the future of the world....
 
whoever says helmets are unnecessary is stupid. You are not safe when you go 50 ft off a jump and land on ice. You are also not safe when trying to spin/balance on a giant metal rail. Why wouldn't you want one?
 
People that say you definitely need a helmet are dead or not functional enough to say it right now here.
 
I'm surprised at how pro-helmet this thread is, seems like every other "Helmet?" thread is full of helmet haters. I never don't wear a helmet skiing because the second time I ever skied, my mom insisted on me wearing a helmet. I complained and complained, but finally gave in and put one on, and as I was walking out of the shop, I slipped on the stairs to the gear racks (damn ski boots), SMASHED my head on the concreted, and saw stars and couldn't stand for a number of minutes, had a minor headache for a few days. That was 10 years ago, and I haven't not worn a helmet yet. If you can fuck yourself up walking out of the ski shop, imagine what you could do charging hard in the park, or anywhere on the mountain.
 
Helmets are a must! If you need to spiff up your helmet hit me up with a PM and order up some Diecuts (Decals).
 
It's not, I'm very pro helmet. I was just observing that in all the other "helmet vs no helmet' threads I've seen, the proportion of people all for helmets vs those against wearing them seems to be more even.
 
No, I was referring to the whole "i don't wear a helmet cuz I can die with one on ect" you do realize that if your mom hadn't made you wear a helmet, you could be dead or paralyzed right now?
 
The only situation that justifies not wearing a helmet is a pow day but you still run the risk of a neck injury if your going inverted and shit... but really, if you are flying twenty feet off jumps and hitting rails without a helmet you pretty ignorant and you obviously care about your image more than your own life...
 
Just look at CR Johnson, died from a fall on cliffs at Squaw that he had skied at least 50 times before. All it took was catching an edge and tumbling down onto his head...
 
speak for yourself.

I've had too many crashes to count where my helmet has been beneficial. I've hit trees, slammed by head against solid ice, and hit myself in the back of my head with my skis when falling off rails. plus its warm and looks nice
 
I always ski with a helmet and usually never hit my head anyway, but last week the buckle on my helmet broke so there was no way to wear so i figured id just ski without out. Low and behold what happens? over spin a 450, land off axis tail heavy, and slam my head. Guess who got a concussion? This guy. The next day i dropped the cash to buy a new helmet. I feel uncomfortable without one.
 
Definitely have slammed my head into a solid tree branch or two, and though none would have been life threatening, it wouldn't have been fun without a helmet on. Worn one ever since I got into the park, and I don't see myself ever not wearing one. It's not like it's awkward or uncomfortable, and it's fun to sticker up.

I find it kinda interesting that a bunch of big name/influential skiers (like the stept guys) ride without helmets in the park and for urban. Like they're being sponsored because the company supporting them knows that those skiers can influence kids to buy their shit, to be like them. They definitely have the power to influence others. It's probably the last thing on those skiers' minds, but I know I'd feel uneasy knowing that I'm part of the reason kids are hitting urban without helmets on.
 
Logged in to post on this thread.

I am mostly on tgr, and have been moving my skiing more in the direction of ski mountaineering and backcountry skiing than free riding for the last two years. Last year, I wore a climbing helmet more than a ski helmet over the course of the season, even though I skied more free ride.

However, on Sunday at Blackcomb, I hit a rock under the snow due to low coverage. The brunt of the impact hit my helmet right above my goggles. If I hadn't been wearing a helmet, I do not know where I would be, as even with a helmet, I got a concussion and a black eye. Now I am firm believer in wearing helmets. Wear your helmet!
 
I don't have a picture of it right now but last year I absolutely crushed my helmet from an impact. What happened was that my hill was making snow but they made it improperly and it was extremely sticky (my skis needed a wax too). I was skiing at a pretty decent speed but when I hit the bad snow, I came to a quick enough stop to flip myself forward and wipe out. I was pretty dazed but it like like any other wipe out so I just got up and dusted myself off. I get onto the chairlift and the guy I was skiing with sees the back of my helmet and told me it was fucked. I took it off and there were two impact zones on it. One of them cracked right through the shell and the foam from the edge and another place was just badly damaged. I can rightfully say that the helmet definitely saved my life. I'll put up a picture when I can.
 
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