Think You Don’t Need a Helmet? Sorry, You’re Wrong, and Here’s Why!

By: Steve
Owner - Skis.com

When I was a kid, the only skiers who wore helmets were racers who whipped down slopes at near mach-speeds. But around fifteen years ago, helmets started showing up on regular skiers. The trend started mostly with kids, which made perfect sense – they were already wearing helmets for other activities like bike riding, and their maturing heads needed to be protected. Then older, park-riding snowboarders took up the cause, and skiers started to follow. Nowadays, stats show that close to fifty percent of skiers and snowboarders wear a helmet.

My first helmet-buying experience was with my kids while on a ski trip at Whistler/Blackcomb in British Columbia. My son was 7 and my daughter was 5 at the time. My son had been skiing for several years already, and although his style was rough he wasn’t afraid of speed. On our first run of the trip, I kept yelling at him to slow down, but he was too thrilled to really listen. I then watched him fly by a tree way too close comfort. Obviously, I wasn’t nearly as thrilled, and right then my wife and I marched – ok, skied – the kids down the mountain and into the first ski shop we saw. Once they were fitted with helmets, we left feeling a lot better about our kids’ safety. My son has been wearing a helmet ever since (he's in his 20's now).

The funny thing is I never even considered buying a helmet for myself that day. Why would I? I was a skilled skier, and didn’t have any plans on running into things. I first started wearing a helmet five years ago, because I figured if I was recommending them to my customers, I should wear one myself. To my surprise, I loved it from the start. A helmet was more comfortable than a snug hat pushing my ears down, and it was warmer too. Then I decided to try an audio helmet, complete with speakers in the earflaps that hook up into an iPod. Now I was in heaven! The only thing better than bombing down a great run was doing it while listening to my favorite bands rock out.

I know what some of you thinking right now, because I used to think the same thing: “I’m a good skier. I don’t need a helmet.” That couldn’t be more wrong. Experienced skiers need a helmet even more than beginners, and here’s why. Good skiers go on more challenging runs, and people on those runs are better skiers who ski much faster than beginners. Sometimes very fast. The reason I wear a helmet is not because I’m worried that I’m going to hit something. It’s that I’m worried someone is going to hit me. As a matter of fact, I have been smashed into twice in the last three years and I was glad that I had my helmet on both times.

Did wearing a helmet save my life? Probably not, but it might the next time and it sure saved me from some massive headaches. Plus, taking into account how stylish and comfortable helmet are now – including speakers if you want to jam while you carve – and there’s no reason to not give a helmet a try. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Now I just have to convince my wife to wear one.