Bicycle Helmets on the Slopes!!!

Can we please stop the pissing contest?

Tony_H wrote:Can we please stop the pissing contest?

It's a shame you chose to take that tone, safety issues are actually fairly important, if some bad and dangerous advice is being given it needs answering.

If you don't want to read it then grow up and don't.

ise wrote:

Tony_H wrote:Can we please stop the pissing contest?

It's a shame you chose to take that tone, safety issues are actually fairly important, if some bad and dangerous advice is being given it needs answering.

If you don't want to read it then grow up and don't.

I am not disputing the importance of safety.
:roll:

Wow! I really generated some heat with this question and the responses are really interesting, if a little tetchy at times!.

It seems to me that I have inadvertently touched on a more fundamental issue that skiers have been avoiding for years - should skiers wear helmets full stop! We have moved to a situation where few parents would dream of letting their kids out on the slopes without a helmet. Yet we continue to resist wearing them ourselves.

I think we are beginning to see a change of attitudes in this regard. A few years ago, it was only racers and serious off-piste skiers that wore helmets - now an increasing number of recreational skiers are doing so.

Ise is absolutely right that a proper ski helmet is probably an essential piece of kit if you want to protect yourself. This is particularly the case where you are engaging in more advanced, and therefore, potentially more dangerous, forms of skiing.

The dilemma is that most recreational, on-piste, skiers do not feel that they are at serious risk and prefer not to wear helmets. This goes to the heart of personal choice and the personal responsibility that we all have to assume on the mountains. Nevertheless, it undoubtedly does still entail taking a risk that some would argue, with some legitimacy, is unnecessary.

For my own part, I now recognise that the cycle helmet option is a distraction - the real issue is whether we opt to wear proper ski helmets or else accept the risk of not doing so!

Having bumped my head twice in the past month in relatively minor falls on the piste (giving myself a mild concussion on the second occasion last week in whiteout conditions), I think I am increasingly becoming persuaded of the merits of helmets (incidentally, I was struck by Ellestine's comment about "feeling naked without a helmet" - I feel the same way about the seatbelt in the car, which was once an optional extra!).

I suspect this debate will go on and on and each person will have to make up their own mind.

As for bicycle helmets, I think I agree with Ise - if you are going to wear a helmet, wear a proper one! If nothing else, bicyle helmets look a bit silly on the slopes!

Good points.

Personally, I wont wear a helmet until they become compulsary. I dont like the look of them, and whilst I ackowledge the potential danger every time you go on the slopes, it has always been there so why change all of a sudden? If we are not careful, we will end up wearing helmets to cross the road!

Its a personal choice, but should a low come in to make it compulsary to wear one skiing, I will no doubt buy one, but only then.

I am sure other people have differing opinions.

One thing I will add, and this is something that I was accused of by a mate and at the time I rejected, you can get a bit of a false sense of security wearing a helmet. You will probably find yourself skiing a bit faster with the helmet than you were previously. This also happened years ago when I started wearing a helmet mountain biking. You feel just that little extra bit more indistructable - not always a good thing :shock: but better than not wearing one - in my view.

Also, don't forget - you can lift your googles onto your forehead without them steaming up. You can store your gloves, buffs etc in one when eating lunch. They don't suddenly fly off at speed like some hats. Importantly, it's far less painful attaching a helmet-cam to a helmet than your head.

Oh, you can also stick pink fluffy ears to them :(

ise wrote:Bizarre. So, you're now saying that you're prepared to wear a helmet to prevent trivial injury in the full knowledge it won't protect you from serious injury?

I've not updated my view in any way at all, it just turns out that you don't understand why people wear helmets and the purpose of campaigns being run in Switzerland for example or the new laws in Italy. But, yet again, I'm telling you the purpose is to prevent serious injury, no one is interested in trivial cuts, grazes and bruises.

Your first paragraph: No, what is bizarre is how you can interpret what I wrote as quote

'you're now saying that you're prepared to wear a helmet to prevent trivial injury in the full knowledge it won't protect you from serious injury?'

What I said was a cycle helmet is better than not wearing a helmet at all.

your second paragraph : This is where you actually acknowledge that people don't just suffer serious injury but can also suffer trivial cuts, grazes and bruises and for those types of injuries a bicycle helmet may be good enough to prevent those. That was my point when I suggested a cycle helmet is better than no protection at all. To me if a person has only a cycle helmet then protecting themselves from trivial injuries is still a good thing, i'm not sure if you do.

Also, don't forget - you can lift your googles onto your forehead without them steaming up.


ellistine that i have to see :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:



AJ Adele