What is the current obsession with.....

[Globalti]

Selling helmets to skiers goes along with selling walking poles to walkers in my book. It's called creating a market then selling for £80 something you got made in China for £2.00.

 

[MissTillyFlop]

...helmets.......when skiing?

Going in 2 weeks, and find the increasing number of people advising I wear a helmet to be puzzling....

Natasha Richardson, probably.

 

[Hotblack Desiato]

Maybe all skiers should be fitted with air bags that inflate on impact with anything? I would like to see that made law. It would make Ski Sunday more entertaining.

 

[ComedyPilot]

Maybe all skiers should be fitted with air bags that inflate on impact with anything? I would like to see that made law. It would make Ski Sunday more entertaining.

When you go out for a Sunday ride, do you ride everywhere on the limit, inches from crashing?

No?

Well it may surprise you that most skiers just pootle around, with just the odd little schuss to liven it up a bit.

Ski racers are to recreational skiiers what Bradley Wiggins and chums are to a bloke popping down the shops for a loaf of bread. The only connection is the transport medium. The speeds and style/mode of performing said activities are totally unrelated.

 

[Brains]

I went skiing for the first time in 15 years last month.

15 years ago only small very fast kids and professional downhill skiers wore helmets.
Now is it everyone. I think I could put on one hand the number of skiers in Austria this season that I saw without a helmet.
Helmets are now worne by >99% of skiiers

 

[Hotblack Desiato]

When you go out for a Sunday ride, do you ride everywhere on the limit, inches from crashing?

No?

Well it may surprise you that most skiers just pootle around, with just the odd little schuss to liven it up a bit.

Ski racers are to recreational skiiers what Bradley Wiggins and chums are to a bloke popping down the shops for a loaf of bread. The only connection is the transport medium. The speeds and style/mode of performing said activities are totally unrelated.

Oh dear: you have taken me seriously. Sorry!

(As you suggest, I freely admit I know nothing about skiing other than that snow (ideally) and gravity are involved)

 

[ComedyPilot]

Helmets can help with safety if worn by a skier, skiing at their normal level/speed/piste/ability.

I truly believe that helmets have been marketed as 'protection as skiing is dangerous', but how has skiing changed since the days of bobble hats and gluhwein that I apprenticed myself into 30 years ago?

I believe that a false air of safety has been afforded to people that wear helmets, and ok, the head injuries may drop, but they will still crash due to them pushing the envelope that a helmetless skier would never get to (self preservation).

Edit: So in effect we have people with no greater skill level than before, putting on the pudding bowl of invincibility, skiing beyond their skill level, and crashing/hitting others, and adding to a self-fulfilling prophecy that skiing is dangerous and you should wear a helmet.

 

[TheDoctor]

I went skiing for the first time in 15 years last month.

15 years ago only small very fast kids and professional downhill skiers wore helmets.
Now is it everyone. I think I could put on one hand the number of skiers in Austria this season that I saw without a helmet.
Helmets are now worne by >99% of skiiers

I've never seen anyone other than small kids skiing in a helmet.
Maybe it's more prevalent in Austria?
*sticks to French Alps*

 

[thom]

Selling helmets to skiers goes along with selling walking poles to walkers in my book. It's called creating a market then selling for £80 something you got made in China for £2.00.

Do you ever go skiing off piste ? Have you ever been walking in proper mountains and seen people benefit from the efficiency walking poles brings to them ?
Last time I looked, this was a cycling forum. I mean, if ever there was a sport where you could burn stupid amounts of cash on equipment upgrades, you'd be hard-pressed to beat cycling !

 

[thom]

Edit: So in effect we have people with no greater skill level than before, putting on the pudding bowl of invincibility, skiing beyond their skill level, and crashing/hitting others, and adding to a self-fulfilling prophecy that skiing is dangerous and you should wear a helmet.

If wearing a helmet while skiing is normal, people don't end up with a belief that wearing one makes them invulnerable.
I just don't get why people resent skiers choosing to wear helmets. I wear one whether on or off-piste as a matter of normality. I don't go off piste unless with a guide so the chosen risks are always informed and controlled rather than reckless. It makes sense to have a helmet (and avalanche safety equipment).

 

[Globalti]

Yes, I've done lots of off-piste skiing including the Haute Route but I don't remember seeing anybody wearing helmets - that was about 15 years ago though.

Do walking poles really bring efficiency? I would find them a distraction, I think they would spoil my rhythm, add weight and tire my arms and I wouldn't want to risk using a pole for support in case it slipped, broke or telescoped. I prefer to rely on my own natural balance and take extra care when I'm tired, I seldom fall over when walking around in the mountains. As for coming down hill, mountaineers managed without poles for about a century and the only reason why I can think people's knees are paining them nowadays must be because they are carrying more weight than their parents and grandparents.

 

[Cheddar George]

I've been skiing most years over the last decade and there has been a massive shift.

In the early years you just saw wooly hats. Then the kids would wear them in ski school and the occasional out of control boarder would have one.

Gradually more and more people started wearing them and now they are absolutely in the majority. I continued skiing without as I thought they would be heavy and claustrophobic. However I tried a mate's out and was surprised how light they are.

I took the plunge last year and got full helmet and goggles. They are great. Not going back now. Feels warm and safe.

Skiing again this year in a couple of weeks time - can't wait!

I never bothered with a helmet, the people wearing them that i talked to all had a story about how they or a friend fell over and the helmet was damaged so it must have saved their life etc. i wasn't convinced.
I will be wearing a helmet this year due to the number of other people who wear them, as Steve says they have increased dramatically every year. The last time i went skiing i witnessed a slow speed collision between two people, the "crack" as their helmets hit was like a rifle shot. There are just too many people whizzing around with an armoured head, so i am going to join them.

February - can't wait.

 

[Hotblack Desiato]

Do you ever go skiing off piste ? Have you ever been walking in proper mountains and seen people benefit from the efficiency walking poles brings to them ?
Last time I looked, this was a cycling forum. I mean, if ever there was a sport where you could burn stupid amounts of cash on equipment upgrades, you'd be hard-pressed to beat cycling !

Yes, I am having 3rd thoughts about the air bags for skiers. After all, boaters wear life jackets that can be inflated instantly by gas and I think these could easily be adapted to make a kind of inflatable suit/helmet.

Despite what the OP says, I'm sure I can cash in on the fear-factor, especially with hire kit. Who knows, it may become de rigeur in other fields too. I am off to get the patent filed.

 

[nickprior]

I ski between 20 and 30 days per year. I wear a helmet when resort skiing (on/off piste but not on Haute Route or similar) to mitigate the results of relatively minor collisions with things and people. At high speeds (>50kph say) the potential for abrasion injury on hard snow is sufficient to justify the helmet, never mind the eventual stopping impact. At lower speeds the potential for collision with less experienced people on increasingly crowded pistes and the potential for catching an edge and landing on my head also justify helmet wear. Over the last 25 years I have experienced all of these types of incident. They are much less unpleasant when wearing a helmet.

Its ironic that the celeb deaths that have apparently triggered an increased use of helmets (Bono, Richardson, Kennedy) were unlikely to have been prevented by wearing a helmet. Hit a tree and all bets are off. And didn't Richardson have a pre-existing condition?

 

[Globalti]

Bono's dead?