Yes, a Snow Helmet Really is Safer
By Michael Frank on January 31st, 2013
Some people think snow helmets don’t do any good. Of course, some people still think the earth is flat. Despite their widespread adoption, holdouts argue that helmets cut your ability to hear and see — as well as encourage you to take more chances — even though studies show that wearing one can reduce the severity of a head injury by 60 percent. All that doubt turns out to be bunk, though. A recent study shows that people with risk-taking personalities ski faster whether they wear helmets or not, and conservatives still ski conservatively when they’re protected. Also, lab studies show that helmets reduce peripheral vision about the same as hats. Bottom line from all this research: Helmets work, they reduce injuries, and they don’t hinder anyone’s ability to go big and walk away in one piece.
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Tags: Skiing, Snowboarding
Not sure how anyone can deny it’s safer but I think many people are skeptical about it’s protection for serious impacts, ie hitting a tree. Not for biting it on a groomer. I’m guessing hitting a tree with or without a helmet means that’s a wrap on life.
@Ben: Sure, hit the tree hard enough and nothing will save you, I don’t think that’s the point here. Do you want to be messed up for the rest of your life by a less-than-extreme-fatal impact. My own helmet use started because my young daughter was going to start asking me why she had to wear one and I didn’t. I didn’t have a good answer for her, and I didn’t like it at the time. Along the way I’ve had a couple of impacts that would have caused serious injury and the worst I’ve had is a headache for a couple days. I’ve decided that I really like my brain, and I’ll go lengths to ensure its good health and long life.
@ bkski: Perhaps you should re-read what I wrote “Not sure how anyone can deny it’s safer but I think many people are skeptical about it’s protection for serious impacts” If the point you are trying to make is that a helmet is better than no helmet, why bother? Of course it is. That’s like saying; will someone be warmer with a jacket or or no jacket. Lots of people don’t wear them because the crashes they are worried about will kill them anyway. That’s all I was saying. In your case good on you for wearing one in front of your daughter, the I’m older so I don’t have to argument only works for so long…
Helmets are good. Mine has saved me before.
@ Ben, this is the kind of cocky reasoning that gets people killed. As if one can predict the severity of any accidents before they occur, or the thought that one is so bad-ass and their feats so death-defying that no helmet could possibly save them. If people could predict with any sort of accuracy which crashes they need to worry about, then they wouldn’t be called accidents anymore.
Skiing and snowboarding have lost a lot of great people, some while wearing helmets, some went without. I can think of two right off the bat, Greg Todds, one of the inventors of no-boarding, and Aaron Robinson more recently. Both died by hitting rocks under the snow, and both were not wearing helmets. Could these impacts have been fatal anyways? Sure. But to presume that any sort of protection was pointless seems ridiculous.
@Josh cool bro then go ahead and wear one.