Using a kayak helmet for off piste skiing

fat_boy wrote:

Screw etiquette,

Who said anything about etiquette?

"Armin" wrote in message
oups.com...

I doubt if any helmet would *significantly* help your safety. After 40+
years of skiing trees, I have yet to personally meet anyone that
sustained anything more than a superficial (read: scratch) head injury
as the result of bashing their head into a tree. Not saying it doesn't
happen... just not very often.

Tell that to Sonny Bono..

I recently bought a helmet and wear it all the time now. Its great because
it holds my goggles in place and keeps my head warm. I have had a number of
crashes since where I have hit my head, and I can tell you that the helmet
is 100% effective.

None of these hits would have been enough to kill me - that is for sure.
However on a number of occasions I have hit my head quite hard and with the
helmet it only hurt slightly whereas I'm quite sure I would have had a
massive lump without it.. people that doubt the effectiveness or necessity
of helmets while skiing because they've "been skiing for 40 years and
haven't been hurt bad" are not clever, they are only lucky..

I would pay $50 for a new skiing helmet. Your Kayaking helmet doesn't
really look suitable to me, and really, for $50 you may as well just get a
proper skiing helmet..



wrote in message
oups.com...
Following my various other threads, I thought I had better ask this
seperatly. I am going to be skiing the off piste bits of heaveny and I
think I need a helmet. I am a bit hard up, and it seems that a ski
helmet is either $50 or $120.

I have a kayak helmet that looks like this one [1]. It was expensive.
Do you think it would do? I reallly do not want to have to spend lots
on a new one but I would if it will significantly help my saftey.

If not, what is the best one to get? I do not care in the slightest
about looks, but do care about saftey and comfort (esp. my ears being
cold) and very much about the $70 difference from the cheapest to most
of them. Any suggestions? What should I be looking at? I am used to
trying on kayak helmets, and reakon they should be a bit uncomftable so
that you should not be able to move them forwards and backwards at all.

I really hope posting 3 threads in one day is not bad netiquete. Tell
me if you think it is.

Thanks for any input.

[1] http://outdoorplay.com/store/Product...?SKU=EHE_GHSCO

Mary Malmros wrote:
fat_boy wrote:

Screw etiquette,

Who said anything about etiquette?

The original poster.

AH wrote:
"Armin" wrote in message
oups.com...

I doubt if any helmet would *significantly* help your safety. After 40+
years of skiing trees, I have yet to personally meet anyone that
sustained anything more than a superficial (read: scratch) head injury
as the result of bashing their head into a tree. Not saying it doesn't
happen... just not very often.

Tell that to Sonny Bono..

So what part of "Not saying it doesn't happen... just not very often"
and "I have yet to personally meet" are you having trouble
compehending?

I recently bought a helmet and wear it all the time now. Its great because
it holds my goggles in place and keeps my head warm. I have had a number of
crashes since where I have hit my head, and I can tell you that the helmet
is 100% effective.

During that same time frame I've worn my toque, had a number of crashes
and I can tell you that the toque is 100% effective. Yup, it kept my
head warm, my goggles seem to always stay in place and I have not
sustained any head injuries. ;-)

Hey, I have no problem with anyone wearing a helmet. I couldn't care
less, one way or the other. However, the question the OP posed was
whether it was *necessary* to go out and buy a specialized ski helmet
when his funds were limited. I simply stated that "I doubt if any
helmet would *significantly* help your safety". Note the asterisks
placed for emphasis around *significantly*. YMMV.

None of these hits would have been enough to kill me - that is for sure.
However on a number of occasions I have hit my head quite hard and with the
helmet it only hurt slightly whereas I'm quite sure I would have had a
massive lump without it.. people that doubt the effectiveness or necessity
of helmets while skiing because they've "been skiing for 40 years and
haven't been hurt bad" are not clever, they are only lucky..

You missed the point. Not only have *I* been lucky but so has
*everyone* I have skied with over the last 40+ years. That's a lot of
luck. If you disagree please provide some data showing a *significant*
decrease in skiing related head injuries since the advent of helmets.

Perhaps, it could be argued that people who say that they bought a
helmet and "have had a number of crashes since where I have hit my
head" either started skiing more recklessly or became clumsy once they
donned their new found security blanket.


Armin

fat_boy wrote:

Mary Malmros wrote:

fat_boy wrote:


Screw etiquette,

Who said anything about etiquette?


The original poster.

I suspect that was tongue in cheek, fatboy.

Armin wrote:
AH wrote:
"Armin" wrote

I doubt if any helmet would *significantly* help your safety. After 40+
years of skiing trees, I have yet to personally meet anyone that
sustained anything more than a superficial (read: scratch) head injury
as the result of bashing their head into a tree. Not saying it doesn't
happen... just not very often.

Tell that to Sonny Bono..

So what part of "Not saying it doesn't happen... just not very often"
and "I have yet to personally meet" are you having trouble
compehending?

Didn't we do Sonny last month? Anyway, he died from a broken neck, not
head trauma, so a helmet probably wouldn't have helped much.


//Walt

Walt wrote:

Didn't we do Sonny last month?

Yeah, but we already knew that Sonny had incredible staying power.

Anyway, he died from a broken neck, not
head trauma, so a helmet probably wouldn't have helped much.

Listen up Walt, you've got to learn not to let facts get in the way of
a good story. ;-)

Armin

"Jeremy Mortimer" wrote in message

That was at Silverton, right? I'm wondering how likely it is to find
a serious tree well in a more heavily skiied area, like in-bounds off
the upper lifts at Heavenly.

Tree wells are worst after a big dump, but they are always there.
You are not likely to visit one if you are in control,
however stuff happens.

That's the answer to the helmet question as well. Be in control. If you
need a helmet you need armour and an avalung too. It's safer and cheaper
not to hit the things in the first place. Keep the speed down and ski
through the gaps.

Good advice, but as pointed out above, stuff happens. I wouldn't consider it
mandatory, but I think a helmet is a good idea in the trees. Just in case.
You need a helmet more than armour because your head is different from the
rest of your body. I tagged a tree trunk with my shoulder last sunday, and
its a bit tender. (My shoulder, apparently the tree is recovering nicely.)
No problem, but if it was my head I might be working through a grade 2
concussion right now. Thats a problem.



One bit of protection I consider vital in trees though, that no-one ever
seems to mention: wear goggles. Twigs will snatch sunglasses right off
your
face. I suppose it depends on how wide the trees are spaced, but where I
ski you quite often have to push branches out of the way, and it's nice to
have your face protected.

Agreed. Bummer to lose a pair of $90.00 Oakleys.

"Norm" wrote in message
news:ttLEf.423059$2k.72067@pd7tw1no...



Agreed. Bummer to lose a pair of $90.00 Oakleys.

Hey ,,,,,,,,,
where are you getting 0's that cheap ?