Wear your helmets kiddos...(this is a long one)

johnwiechecki

johnwiechecki

Active member
Ok so I'm sitting here at my computer because I can't concentrate well on my math homework, so I figured I'd type out a little story about why you should wear a helmet.

Up until a week ago, I had 5 concussions. Some of them were preventable (I could've been wearing a helmet hitting urban), some were not (I got blasted in the head with a metal baseball bat in little league because some kid started warming up his swing next to the bench). Then on Wednesday, I got number 6.

This time I was wearing a helmet, it was my roommate's single impact helmet, which already had it's single impact, but I figured it was better than nothing since I left mine at Stratton during the VT Open. Last run of the day...cork 5...overrotate to knee...slammed my head really hard.

For the first time ever, I didn't lose consciousness, I just skied over to the side and started icing my head. I was pretty out of it until Friday, when I started feeling a little better. Last weekend I rode at Killington and hit rails and boxes and shit, still kind of out of it, and looking back, it was a dumb idea.

Monday my headache returned with full force, and I started feeling out of it again. Now today I still feel like I just woke up...all the time...with a pounding headache. It sucks, I've had plenty of injuries in the past, and they've all healed. This one is different, because in my mind right now it doesn't seem like it will ever get better...

But I went into the doctor today and he said that I should come out of it by next week sometime, and every concussion I get after this one will probably result in a longer time until I feel back to normal...or I might just knock myself retarded.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), I don't want to be retarded, so today I had to make the decision to stop skiing as hard as I used to. It sucks. I am getting teary eyed right now just thinking about it.

Pretty much the moral of my story is don't be dumb, and always wear a helmet when in the park. If I didn't have one on last Wednesday, who knows what would have happened. Looking cool is not worth feeling like this for a week, believe me.

As for me I'm going to keep skiing, maybe without a helmet since I'm just going to be cruising around. Hopefully I'll get back into hitting little rails or something, but mostly I'm just going to stay obsessed with skiing, but just taking pictures or something like that.

That being said, I'd like to thank Tim Maher, Jason Levinthal, and Jake Anderson, who either work at Line Skis now or did in the past, for making my childhood dream of riding on their team possible. Also Mike Nick for giving me the chance to shoot some photos for the Siver Cartel website, Geoff MacDonald and Chris James at Meathead Films for letting me tag along and ski with them the past two years (watch out for their movie next year, it should be crazy), and John Kirby at Ski Fanatics in Pittsfield, MA for always helping me be able to afford the equipment I wanted.

If you made it all the way through this, thanks for reading, I hope that my stupid mistakes in life can help you out. And if you see me on the hill wearing all Line and Siver stuff, but I can't do shit in the park, please don't call me a poser because I suck now. I just want to keep supporting good companies.

And watch out for Will Wesson and Tyler Seacrest, as they will continue to kill shit in the park. Take it easy.

- John Wiechecki
 
wow. thats terrable man. best wishes. i dont know if i have ever gotten a concusion. i think i have but i dont know.

ive also split my head open on a rock when i was about 8. since then ive always worn my helmet.
 
Wow, i feel really bad for you. Its really too bad. Well try stay in, hits some rails and jumps now and then, please, you will like it, i promise
 
Wow, i feel really bad for you. Its really too bad. Well try stay in, hits some rails and jumps now and then, please, you will like it, i promise
 
i know that feeling you are talking about when u dont black out after a concussion. like 5 hours of my day were in a haze. i will live and die by my helmet though. i really like my Trace, and i see no reason to ever not wear it.
 
ya im goin to start to wear my helmet this year.....2 bad falls that just destroyed my head for the next 3 days....dunno if it was a cuncossion but skiing sucked that day after those falls
 
dude i dont even usually put skis on without a helmet.. i dont caare where im riding
 
Yo john is definetly right guys, and it shouldnt take a math genious to figure that one out. I look forward to skiing with you still man. I will miss ur having to lipslide whenever we session urban and ur both ways bs 270s out.
 
i had my 8th (give or take, mostlikley give) concussion on sunday, with a helmet...lame
 
Wow that sucks really bad, but such a mature choice to make that I personally hope I wont have to make for a long time. One of my friends went though this exact thing you did but he's only 15. He snowboards and has had many diagnosed concussions, some funny such as overrotated 720 to 1080 death, and some not so much as his most recent helmet breaking in half to overnight hospital trip. He has had to really lay off going as nuts as he used to which is a shame because he really could be something great but is held back by head injuries and at such a young age. He still has a slight opening still, because of a recent win at a rail jam giving him the once in a lifetime trip out west to Whistler or Mammoth, I can't quite remember. But it still sucks because he can't really take it off jumps anymore like he used to.

Good luck in the future, and yeah, thanks for still having that great attitude of supporting the sport you love.
 
i read it all. I have to say, i wear my helmet almost all the time. The only time i dont is when im teaching, (dahh) and when im capturing some history. Tough break you learned the hard way tho. it sucks.
 
Honestly guys, not wearing a helmet, at any time, is most likely the dumbest thing you can do on the mountain. I would equate it to wearing a seatbelt in the car. Yo udon't necessarily wear it for when you make a mistake, but when others do. You don't know when then next way way out of control kid is going to come barreling into you, possibly your head, and you wont be wearing you helmet because you were just cruising. I have had to spend the night in the hospital because of a concussion, and I was wearing a helmet (funny story, i didn't actually hit my head). I've had a couple other concussions from my dumb days of skiing, but that hopefulyl wont be happening anymore. Even when I'm teach (ive been teaching for 8 years), I wear a helmet. You dont know if one of your kids might run into you when you are bending down helping someone else. Also, it sets a good example for the kids, they will see it as cool.

On that note, it is not just a helmet that is needed to prevent concussions. THe majority of concussions are not caused by the actual knee to the head, but the slamming together of your teeth. The hit that your brain takes from that is much worst than the knee to the head, which usually happens in unison. Wearing a mouth gaurd has saved my life numerous times, from my knee going into my chin, to dropping huge cliffs and landing too far forward to chin in the snow. It is the mouthgaurd that is of extreme importance here, as even with a helmet, you can still get a concussion.

1 too many concussions will put you out of skiing forever. I will change who you are, how you act, speak, hear, your balence, everything about you. Don't concuss yourself retarded, because it actually does happen every day.
 
my helmet has saved my ass several times already this season. once i was taking off my skis and just slipped and the first thing that hit was my head. then i caught my ski between a c-rail and its support, fell over hte other side, lost that ski, rolled over to get up and saw my ski falling into my face. it only got my helmet but without it i would have stitches in my head and a very short first season.
 
sorry to hear that john, and i can definately relate with you on the whole having to tone it down while skiing. ive decided im pretty much done with the park when i get to go back to skiing again next year. i guess we could use the excuse of just being soul skiers from now on and play that whole card to get out of shit! haha. but just to look at the upside, this will kinda make you more focused on taking even sicker pictures from now on right? peace BRO
 
I have never skid with out a helmet in my life. I also have gotten 2 concussions this year. 1 skiing one not.

I LOVE HELMETS!!!!
 
sorry to hear that, Ive had two concussions and both times ive had helmets on, The first one was a direct shot to the chin, which knocked my out cold for a bit, and the second one was from screwing up a ledge manual and for some reason trying to ride it out. But whenever I ski, wearing my helmet is a confidence thing, if Im not wearing it I feel sketch.
 
Some guy came racing down the hill right outside of my house on his bike and slid into a tree on a corner and died. seriously, if anyone bothers you about wearing a helmet just be like whatever, i have a better chance at surviving if i fall or something
 
good story john....you killed it when you were with me erik and tyler at mt snow. I'll forget it. Good stuff.
 
Dang, that really stinks.

I agree though, i always wear my helmet, i had 1 concussion and that was bad enough.

How do you know if your helmet is single impact or not?
 
wow i think im the complete oppostie of this thread, i rarly wear a helmit, i dont even own one of my own any more. i use to race and ALWAYS had to wear a helmmit, so the second i finished i got rid of my helmit, and havent thought about it untill now. I have had concusions several times, both when i was or wasnt wearing a helmit. In fact the only time i wear one is when it is a requirement for a park or comp.
 
that sucks man.

i wouldnt count yourself out of the game totally yet, just keep skiing and every once in a while throw on the helmet and go for it.

see ya on the hill, probably shoting with you from the sound of it
 
Not trying to dispute the fact that mouth guards can help to prevent concussion, but do you really think that there are "numerous times" that you would have DIED if you weren't wearing a mouthguard? Sounds a little exaggerated to me.

Also, even though helmets ARE a good idea for skiing, you do realize that you are in much more danger of life-threatening head injury every time you ride in a car (check the statistics), so everyone calling out people as "idiots" for skiing without a hemet, better strap one on anytime they get in a car.

Most people wouldn't do a rally car race without wearing a helmet, but will drive around town without one, even though the risk of head injury still exists. That's how I feel about helmets when skiing, I wear one for sketchy stuff, but I also like to ski without one if I'm taking it easy, even though the risk of head injury still exists.
 
helmets can be steezy to, you can sticker them up and shit. That sucks, that story is almost like you retiring from the sport of park skiing, and giving your farewell speech.
 
dammm.. thats gota hurt but ya its a good idea just get a steeze helmet and it will save u from some little discomferts or some huge concussions either way its a good idea
 
wow dude that sucks....i have only had 2 concussions and only 1 is from skiing...but since then i have and will always wear a helmet...that sucks for you though...take it easy for a while and then start up again...i bet you will miss it
 
concussions are bad news. with every concussion, you up the amount of dead brain floating around in your skull, which is not cool. the head can only take so many strikes..

unless you want to risk sucking your food thru a straw for the rest of your life, wear a helmet.
 
i got a helmet with the earphones in it and now i love wearing a helmet. i would feel scared on rails i think without one
 
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