Sure, I would.  I would let him ride a horse, go tabaganing, cross the street, ride in a car, go swimming without a life jacket on, play school sports, use a sharp knife, ride in a plane, and a lot of other dangerous things.

Jeepers, creepers!  What was I thinking!

NO!  Helmets should be mandatory.  In fact skiing is so dangerous, there should be a license required for it.  No, it should be a tiered license system, with a 40-hour course to get the learners permit, and an on snow test to ski above green circles.

On the other hand, now that I think of it skiing's so dangerous, it should be outlawed all-together, along with driving vehicles, horse-back riding, any form of alcohol,

Of course skiing is dangerous. You can die at any moment. Getting into your car to drive to the resort is statistically way more dangerous and forget crossing the road to get the bus to the lift. How about eating in the lodge and choking to death, then there is the good old fashioned heart attack because your overweight and out of shape for the slopes.

The difference is mitigation, we drive with seat-belts on, we look both ways when crossing the road, and we try to work out (occasionally) all with an effort to reduce risk and prolong life.

For me, I have no problem wearing a helmet and equally have no problem on people not wearing a helmet. its job security for me. I'm the guy that talks to family's when their loved one is brain dead and then coordinates the organ recovery. Off the top of my head (excuse the pun) i have done about 5 non helmeted donors this year, small I know, but significant non the less. I even took a nasty fall myself this year on my bicycle. I wouldn't be typing now if I hadn't been wearing a helmet. My wife fell badly a few years ago at Copper that necessitated a ride down in the sled, not her fault, just an inexperienced friend that was out of control.

Quite a few people have stated that statically there is no difference wearing a helmet yet they don't quote the clinical papers that prove it.
But you are wrong, here you go.  There are more, just google them.

As stated, its a personal choice, you choose. If you elect not to wear a helmet for what ever reason, please make sure your donor designated as it makes my job a lot easier.

It is November 1st and we have already . . . to death.

I have still not recovered from last seasons lectures on this topic. Wear a helmet, don't wear a helmet, I don't care. Its your choice. Remember that concept independent choice. Just stay off my head. Wait that does not sound right. You get the point.

Q.How many people with AD/HD does it take to talk about helmets on epicski?

A. Lets go skiing!!

Right on!!!

Riding a bike with a helmet is more dangerous in terms of head injury risk than skiing or riding without one.  Gymnastics -- done without a helmet, and significant head and spine injury risk.  Tackle football:  helmets actually increase significantly head and spine risk and, yes, more dangerous than skiing or riding. 

Pairs figure skating also has significant risk...

Ban all of that for kids in particular.  Bocce ball is where it's at.

Seriously, in these obligatory threads all the people talking about the "need to protect the kids"  need to separate fashion from actual real risk.  Kids helmets are only now beginning to address the fact that kids weigh less than adults, have weaker necks and generally don't ski or ride quite as fast, for that matter.  If people were really concerned about safety, rather than concerned about the appearance of being concerned about safety, they would have looked at things like the fact that kids are small about 20 years ago.

For a family of 5 the "need" to buy specialty helmets for kids  every couple years, so they can do pretty safe activities, adds up real fast financially.  There's often the rejoinder that if you're burdened financially by the cost of helmets, then maybe you shouldn't be skiing.  I agree, people on a budget should have their kids do more dangerous sports instead --  I sure don't want to see that type on the slopes, and DEFINITELY don't want my kids mixing with them.

BRAVO!

I really have to agree with rossi smash!  wearing a helmet is a choice.  I tried wearing a helmet for 2 weeks and ABSOLUTELY HATED IT!  Now when people ask "do you wear a helmet?"  I say "yeah, a helmet of awareness!" 

Being aware of your surroundings is the most important aspect of skiing or driving or any other activity the involves risk.  The more attention one pays to  what is happening around oneself the more options are available to any situation.  Everyday I see skiers, boarders, and drivers who only see what is in front of them, I'm talking directly in front of them!  They never look uphill or over their shoulder.  These people are the ones that NEED a helmet because they are an accident waiting to happen. 

If you feel safer wearing a helmet then wear a helmet.  I would appreciate it if those who wear helmets would allow that there are some skiers out there who choose not wear a helmet.  To be honest  I feel safer not wearing one.

To those who would say I am stupid for not wearing a helmet.
My response is you wear one because you are stupid.

p.s.
if this upsets you,  that is you your choice to be upset. 

One thing I have noticed about helmet usage. Those that really know the effectiveness of helmets if you ask why they wear them; the majority do not wear them for impact protection. They wear them for warmth and protection from cuts and scrapes. 

It is a myth that helmets are this wonderful cure all solution to injuries.

Quote:
They are not a "wonderful cure all solution to injuries" -- and certainly not a license to do really stupid things -- but they can be seriously helpful in falls and collisions.  In one of the threads from last year, I dug up a bunch of research papers that tried to look at effectiveness of helmets in collisions.  The one that really swayed me showed that, if you survive a crash, you are much less likely to have permanent brain damage if you were wearing a helmet.  (They didn't look at survivability itself; statistically, this is difficult to do.)  Anecdotally, there seem to be far more people who post "I fell with a helmet on and thank god I was wearing it" than "I fell with a helmet on and got jacked up anyway", but there is probably a strong self-selection bias there.

There are also, IMO, just too many situations where I might be messed up by someone else's stupidity, so just being careful myself is not enough to avoid all serious accidents.  Depending on how and where you ski, this may be more or less of a factor.

Adults should be able to make their own decisions about whether to wear a helmet.  I think people who choose not to wear one are generally slightly deluded, but they're not hurting anybody else.   (FWIW, I'd be fine with getting rid of seatbelt and motorcycle helmet laws for adults as well, with some sort of increased insurance requirement instead.  I just don't want to pay for your medical care after the paramedics finish scraping what's left of you off the sidewalk.)

I don't mind.    One has to consider the upside: the Social Security payout will be shorter.

I'm definitely for free choice on the helmet or no-helmet situation. However, there is always a bunch of misinformation being bantered about on this topic, which I think should be addressed. So here are a couple of points often made that I don't believe are valid:

1. Ski helmets are tested at 14 mph and therefore provide no or insufficient protection at higher speeds.
 
UNTRUE, as this is simply a specification on how testing is performed at testing institutes. For instance Formula 1 helmets are tested at 21 mph and do afford protection at much greater speeds. Proof: Formula 1 cars and thus F1 drivers move along at speeds in the vicinity of 200 mph, and many drivers have been saved in shunts far in excess of 21 mph. Fillipe Massa is still alive today after an accident involving the impact of a bouncing suspension part, that fell off from another car on the track, colliding directly with his helmet at far in excess of 21 mph.

2. Ski helmets don't improve skiing safety.

UNTRUE, they do reduce the severity of head injuries for those wearing them, and thus do improve safety - for your head. There have been a number of specific studies of incidences of head trauma from skiing and snowboarding showing this. However, severe head injuries only represent a fraction of all skiing injuries, so statistically there is little impact to the overall incidence of skiing injuries made by helmets. That helmets don't make any difference is a misinterpretation of the stats for the overall sport, which is actually a pretty safe sport overall.

Please do whichever makes you feel good, but please refrain from spreading misinformation that might impact someone else's decision.

^^^ You've got some misinformation of your own in there.  If you're definitely going to absorb a blow of a certain force to the head, in most instances a helmet is definitely going to help you.  No one disputes that.  (In tumbling, whiplash type falls among other things, a helmet can sometimes actually hurt you, as people who fall also know, though some people with lots of degrees after their name still don't get this in all cases.) 

Helmets do seem to change behavior, though.  All the stuff about people being less aware, skiing or riding faster, and generally hitting their heads more and harder, seems generally to be true.  Some studies confirm this, some don't.  Of course, some related sports like bike riding have had their head injury rates go way up while overall rates of participation have gone way down following widespread adoption of helmet use.  Most people will admit their own skiing or riding tends to get faster, closer to trees, etc, when they put a helmet on, though some also rationalize this by saying "I ski faster, but more aware, with my helmet." 

I own several helmets, wear one sometimes on-snow, don't care at all what other people put one their head, but would also like people to stop pushing the idea that helmets definitely make you "safer," or are needed to responsibly ski or ride.  Mouthpieces are at least as relevant as helmets to preventing head injuries while skiing or riding -- and like helmets some studies have suggested they actually don't help prevent head injuries -- but aren't considered cool so generally don't get mentioned. 

If people really are concerned about head injuries on-snow, stop grooming.

Studies have shown that careful people, people who take the trouble to wear helmets, have a reduced risk of head injury.  Who knew?

I guess I'll be skiing faster this season after I get a helmet.

I should be ok, so long as I don't get one with tunes and listen to too much Black Sabbath.

In Northern Europe, Sweden/Finland/Norway, usual pictures of ski resorts are with people with helmets on.
But of course, it IS Scandinavia, so safety is no1! And I like it, it gives out the sensible vibe to wear helmets.

I manged to kick off another Helmet debate.  That was not my intention when I started this thread.  I wanted to talk about Helmets in the media. This thread got hijacked.  I admit I am also responsible for bringing this up in the first place.  I apologize to everyone. 

To be honest I was venting a little.  As an employee I will be forced to wear a helmet his year for the first time. 

Wow another helmet debate. Gotta love it.
So, if you're sliding on a steep pitch trying to self arrest and the rocks are approaching fast.
Wouldn't you feel a little better knowing the helmet will ward off "scrapes"?

In other news...unrelated to helmets..
In a sad irony, Natasha Richardson did the voice over for the new movie on Edmund Hillary's Everest climb. She plays the wife who reads the telegram announcing his death. Apparently she had trouble doing it, imagining Liam in the situation. Eventually she got through it.  A few weeks later she died in the tragic accident.

Is it true?   Are helmets really going to be required at ESA events this year?

You work at a ski area (liftie, instructor or other where you are interacting with the public) most resorts require and furnish uniforms (the employee is required to keep them clean and in good repair) to be worn during working hours, wonder why the resorts don't furnish helmet's if they require them to be worn?
I wear a helmet nowdays when skiing, but skied for years without one. I believe the helmet protects my head (at least from the weather, maybe more) when skiing and protects my goggles when traveling. I know my head is warmer (I do have less hair now) and I know my goggles last longer when packed inside my helmet when traveling.

I dunno about that, the bolina could be a missile in the wrong hands----and what about carom off the side boards---could be hazardous to your ankles---and that drop box at the end of the court---you could take a nasty fall.....

I ain't letting no one use a bocce set without Kevlar-bum shorts.    

Thumbs up, I can think of one 7 year old who could do damage with that!

In terms of the ski media angle, there are other gravity sports where the collective judgment for some publications has been helmets don't get shown in shots, period.  That's been done with no great rash of head injuries.  It's a style and marketing niche issue.  For ski areas it should be similar to asking themselves whether they emphasize certain aspects of terrain or even the snob factor (which is a positive for some resorts).   

Few Helmets in Ski Magazine Photos and Vail Videos

Why would they want to give the impression that skiing is not perfectly safe by showing people wearing helmets?
Skiing is "glamorous" and helmets are not.

Skiing is already thought of as very dangerous by the general public. How many other sports have killed multiple celebrities? Skiing is under constant damage control because of the attention from the media. Other than the opening day of Loveland and A-Basin the only time in the last month skiing was in the news was this week talking about a kid injured in an avalanche. Yesterday they reported it as the first avy of the year, today in yet another story they did have their facts straight about it being the 8th.

With everyone preaching about how helmets should be required because of the injuries it could prevent why do you not feel the same about knee braces? Knee injuries are the most common injury to skiers especially employees. Why are employers not requiring employees who ski on the job to wear knee braces? Knee injuries are injuries that have already been proven to cost resorts money and it will continue to cost them money. 

Most of the skiers in this video:

http://www.woopyjump.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32&Itemid=72

are wearing helmets.  I am happy about that.

CROSS, below are the only two posts I have in this entire thread




Did you read those carefully?

Now read your reply that appears to be aimed at me:
Please provide a reference of anywhere I EVER made a comment anywhere on the entire internet about knee braces.  I do not appreciate strangers putting words in my mouth, especially in print visible to the general public.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest.  Knee braces aren't glamorous either

Umm the word you refers to the other word everyone earlier in that sentence. Besides only my first paragraph was a response to what I quoted.

someone is a little touchy

 No one cares that you don't wear a helmet.

Good!

What's that?   OOOH....  Nevermind...


Anyone wanna see photos my helmet quiver?  On second thought, that probably isn't a good idea.

The irony in this statement is priceless. There is no greater arrogance in all the world, than that of helmet wearers who feel the need to convert every soft top, and to heap derision upon those who hearken not unto the unlimited righteousness and intelligence which is achieved by donning a brain bucket.

 I haven't seen any posts in this thread that have challenged the precious free choice of those too stupid or too poor to wear a helmet while skiing.