Eldest is off to Andorra for a week, does he need a helmet?

Need? No.

Lots of people wear them though.

I would do.

I’m going to Andorra next week, they’ll be 8 of us and we all will be wearing helmets, 4 adults and 4 kids. They’re cool don’t you know!! 😀

Ads, give him a wave if you see him, he is the fastest snowplower in the west :D.
Recommended then rather than legally required?

Yeah no legal requirement but can be useful. Same as with bike helmets though, some people just don’t like them.

Edit: Actually, if he wants to play in the freestyle parks he’ll need a helmet. No helmet no 1080 mctwist’s! What ever that means….

I reckon Michael Schumacher has done more for snow sport helmet sales than he ever did for any of the products he promoted as a racing driver. 🙁

Just don’t be tempted to mount your GoPro on top of it.

I suppose the TJ argument would be along the lines of: Schumacher – better dead (if he wasn’t wearing one) or alive (and not in great nic having worn one). But I would do take the option of wearing a helmet every time.

Can of worms indeed…

I didn’t used to, then about 3 years ago I started going skiing by myself so thought it would be sensible.

Last Monday at Glenshee on an easy slope, I wasn’t paying attention, got one ski on the other and headbutted the slope which was very solid ice.

Properly concussed and had slurred speech the next day. My helmet has a nice dent in the front of it.

I’m not going to do the whole “If I hadn’t been wearing a helmet I wouldn’t be here” thing. But as you usually wear a hat when skiing anyway, wearing a hat with a hard shell is no bother and might just be beneficial.

Mine was £20 from Sports Direct, and it’s fine. Need a new one now though!

They are warm as toast as well. Maybe a bit too warm for a sunny day at the end of March, but a real boon at this time of year. And they’re good for carrying your goggles.
Just do it.

I suppose the TJ argument would be along the lines of: Schumacher – better dead (if he wasn’t wearing one) or alive (and not in great nic having worn one). But I would do take the option of wearing a helmet every time.

It is suggested that the presence of the sports camera on MS’s helmet affected how it absorbed (or didn’t as effectively as it could have done) the energy in the crash.

You don’t need a helmet in Andorra , the snow is really soft. Break a leg.

Didn’t wear one when I was learning as a kid, but wear one now, along with about 90% of other people on the hill (Whistler). If nothing else they’ve got built in ear warmers.

They’ve been increasing in popularity for a few years now. I now wear one having seen a few nasty crashes.
The only negatives I can think of are initial cost, potential cost of buying new goggles or shades to fit helmet and if it’s really really hot you might feel too warm.
It’s personal choice but I don’t see why wearing one is a problem or why it upsets the anti-helmet contingent so much

Tandem Jeremy to the forum!!!!

No, but it’s his/your choice

Need? No. But I wouldn’t be without mine any more.

Looks like I’m off to outdoor action in blackburn tomorrow morning then. Thanks for the input folkes.

I wear one as it allows me to go faster and take much bigger risks than I’d be comfortable doing bareheaded. 😉

I thought I’d hate wearing a helmet, but it is warm, dry, keeps my goggles secure and means I’m less bothered when some uncoordinated muppet twots me with a ski pole in the lift line.

Biggest reason to wear them is that everyone else is wearing them and being hit on the bare head by a helmet would really hurt!

I wear a £25 bmx helmet for snowboarding – although to be fair theres a lot more variety of ski hemlets than there was 5-6 years ago and they’re getting more sensibly priced.

Would he wear one riding a bike? Rules are the same for me and mine.
North American ski schools do require helmets for minors.

Skipped out on the board in crap light on ice the day a got my helmet. Hit the back of my head so hard it felt like I broke my nose. Helmet was broke (4″ crack in the back), head wasn’t. I bought a new helmet that evening. Never been out without one since.

Like biking helmets I don’t think there is currently a shred of evidence/research either way.

Personally I think they encourage people to ski / board like morons.

FunkyDunc – Member
Like biking helmets I don’t think there is currently a shred of evidence/research either way.

Personally I think they encourage people to ski / board like morons.

I’m sure there are morons in the world. My evidence is the 4″ crack in the lid from a slip that would have been my skull. Most other organs heal better than the brain.

Personally I think they encourage people to ski / board like morons.

No, I ski equally badly with or without my helmet.

I can see the use for boarding (due to the way and frequency boarders fall) , for skiing it less useful. Head injuries are very rare and IIRC in all the recent high profile accidents the skier was wearing a helmet.

This article raises some interesting questions :

I don’t wear one. I ski very much within myself and haven’t felt the need, certainly no animosity toward those who do! Definitely in the minority these days.

I’m not going to make any for/against comment.

All I will add is if he is going to have lessons, wearing a helmet MIGHT be a requirement of the ski school. might be a function of his age.

If having lessons, you could check with the ski school.

Cheers

Witnessed the aftermath of a collision where 2 skiers had a bit of a head on coming together and headbutted each other. The guy in the helmet had a broken nose, the guy without was dead.

I’m comfortable that I don’t need one for me, but the pistes are busy and there are some spectacular nobheads on them. I wear one because of them.

shades to fit helmet

That’s a whole bag of no.

Keeps your head warm and might save your life. What’s not to like?

A little like with cycling , I wear one most of the time, especially in the park or when ‘freeriding’. Crusing groomers though I often don’t. No logic behind it really I’m afraid.

I really don’t think they make people ski or board like morons though. They are just morons

I learned to snowboard in 1991 and I’ve almost always worn one. On the few occasions that I’ve worn a hat, I find that my goggles would steam up really easily, especially when putting them up on my forehead.

The most important thing is to make sure there’s absolutely no gap between the helmet and goggles.

The brain damage study is interesting but there’s a whole range of injuries a helmet WILL protect against. My Mrs got hammered by a platter lift t’other day (the guy coming up.behind her let his go way too soon so it was retracting at speed). The impact was enough to put a dent in her helmet. I don’t think it would have been life threatening without but for the cost and supposed inconvenience why risk spoiling your day/holiday?

Back in my day nothing said pro more than a helmet hanging off your backpack as you go though check in.
Tell him the sticker job is the most important factor, never should ski and snowboard brands mix.

If he’s a kid some resorts may have a helmet rule. Though it’s more the case in North America.

Out of interest, ask the question in North America and everyone would think you’re daft for asking. It’s just the norm now for most to wear them except for old folk or in posh resorts.

Anyway, my unproven example is a friend wearing a helmet smacked his head on a slab of ice and ended up with brain fluid leaking from his nose. The old “had he not been wearing a helmet” is that back of his skull could have been smashed in and far worse result. Purely opinion and unproven of course.

Me, I’ve had a few occasions of slamming my head down hard on hard slopes, and yes while skiing, and combined with mostly used to skiing in North America, it’s just normal for me to wear one. Plus they’re fairly stylish these days and keep my head warm.

Plus gives you that Enduro look 😉

I wear one, mainly in case someone else ploughs into me, which does happen as a minority of skiers seem to enjoy skiing outside their ability envelope on busy pistes and do go ploughing into the back / side of people on pistes.

Like biking helmets I don’t think there is currently a shred of evidence/research either way.

Personally I think they encourage people to ski / board like morons.

They may give you protection against minor bumps but I don’t think they are very strong and so I don’t think they would give you any protection against the kind of impact that Schumacher suffered. Has anybody actually seen the boulder field he was traversing when he hit the rock? Cutting across there wasn’t necessary as it was just an “island” in the middle of a wide piste.

To give adequate protection against nutting a rock at speed the helmet would need to be built like a motorcyling helmet, which is too heavy.