Helmet or no helmet?

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When you ride/carve, do you wear a helmet? (you can vote once and have to register first)

Never
29
32%
Always
53
58%
Only off piste
1
1%
Only on piste
0
No votes
Sometimes (off/on piste)
8
9%
 
Total votes: 91

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fivat
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Helmet or no helmet?

Post by fivat » Tuesday 23 April 2002, 17:02

The bad news about Gilles Voirol who died on 18th April 2002 in a freeriding accident in Canada (see http://www.oneilleurope.com ) contribute to the debate about the use of helmet.
This Swiss pro rider had no protective headgear, like many other snowboarders or skiers (Dominque Perret for example, http://www.skier.ch )...

What do you think?
:arrow: Do you wear a helmet? Always, never, or only off piste? You can vote above!

-Patrice Fivat

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Post by NateW » Tuesday 23 April 2002, 23:31

I had to buy a helmet to take part in a jump contest last year. Now that I have a helmet, I cannot ride without it... If I hit a tree while my perfectly good helmet was sitting at home, I would feel like the stupidest person alive. :D

I even bought a full-face helmet this year, thinking that as long as I am going to be wearing a helmet, I might as well wear the most protective I can find.

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Post by philfell » Wednesday 24 April 2002, 17:34

my answer is sometimes.
When I wear on is if the conditions are firm, I'm racing or training, riding tree or chute lines, park and pipe, or riding agressivly on my hard boots.

When I don't wear a helmet is all purpose freeriding on either hard or soft boots, which is about 60% of my riding time.

The reason I choose not to wear a helmet for this is it allows me to hear my board and the snow better which give me a better feel and balance, also I can hear more of what is going on around me, I've avoided being hit from behind many time simply because I could hear them, I see people all time with helmets that don't have a clue as to who is around them because they can't hear as well, I think this is a big hazard

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agreed phil>

Post by nils » Wednesday 24 April 2002, 18:06

that is the downside with helmet> you loose perception of what is around, and most time u loose some balance i think... I do wear it 100% of times on hard pack with race gear, but not always in the pow... because of that..

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Post by thomas » Wednesday 24 April 2002, 19:25

you can break a leg, and it will heal, but if you break your head...
I have been wearing a helmet for the past three seasons, and you do adapt, you learn to be more observant.
I was buying a motorcycle helmet once, I asked the salesman, Okay, they are bot dot & snell approved, what's the difference? this ones 50 bucks, this one's 500 bucks, he said, you got a 50 dollar head, wear a 50 dollar helmet

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drzone
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see the mouse on the Boeri add

Post by drzone » Thursday 25 April 2002, 6:34

Brain cells do not regrow. Once you loose it, its gone til your next life. Wearing a helmet may be the difference between life and death, or if not a severe impact normal brain function and a mild vegetable.
The effects of repeated concussions may not be immediate, just ask any older boxer.
It also cost the taxpayer less money in the long run if everybody wears one.
I wear one all the time. I like to grow old and sharp-minded.

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Re: Helmet or no helmet?

Post by roberte » Saturday 27 April 2002, 4:03

I believe hits to the head have a cumulative effect.

i can't take many more.

I remember once, when...I really... wait a minute, what was i saying?

oh yeah, wear a helmet or end up like me.

r

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RicHard
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Helmet Poll

Post by RicHard » Saturday 27 April 2002, 12:15

One hit could never happen or one hit could be enough... you decide.
I'm wearing my helmet everytime since I started using it, the beginning of season 2001/2002.
Ciao!

Paul
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Post by Paul » Monday 15 July 2002, 11:59

I always wear mine. I use a protec which I feel allows the best vision and hearing of the approx 8 helmets I tried on once. I "ski" patrol on my board and hearing is important as well as vision. I'm also an Critical Care nurse in the Thaoe area and we see thousands of ski and board injuries a season, of which many are head injuries. I just can't see taking the risk after taking care of so many head traumas. Plus I love riding in the trees!! Damn, them trees are hard!!

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Post by pete » Tuesday 17 September 2002, 5:30

I think i'll start to wear one, if it's not this year, it'll be the next year... Before trying skwal, i didn't any utility in an helmet, but with skwal, almost like in EC, your head is sooo close to this hard snow at high speed... when you think at it that't frightening!! So, i've voted no, but i think i'll change. It might be really herd to find an helmet you like, no?

Thanks for making me thinking about it.

I'll be a lil bit more strange on the pistes... with my powder neoprene mask, and an helmet... that's fun! :lol: I like being different!

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Post by KYLE T » Sunday 22 September 2002, 21:31

The second weekend of the 2001/2002 season, I bought a helmet, and that afternoon, a skier made contact with me at the tree line. 8O

We both ended up with our heads sideswiping a tree. :( I never though that morning when I got the helmet that this would happen.

So any time I step into my bindings, the helmet is on. :D

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Post by Eddie Risser » Friday 11 October 2002, 5:59

When I lived in California, I surfed alot and one day I ended up breaking a fin off my board with my head. After twelve stiches, a compressed disk in my neck and a concussion I started to think of wearing a helmet. It wasn't till the 2000/2001 snowboarding season did I buy a helmet only after two more concussions from accidents in the halfpipe. Now I carve most of the time and I don't even think of going out without my helmet. Patrice, Jacques why don't we ever see you guys wearing a helmet in your pictures :?:

Eddie

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fivat
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Post by fivat » Friday 11 October 2002, 23:37

Eddie Risser wrote:Patrice, Jacques why don't we ever see you guys wearing a helmet in your pictures :?:
I use a helmet only off piste since last season. Especially in December and January, there are invisible rocks right below the fresh snow: what a danger! Of course the visible rocks are also dangerous when one jumps them :?

On piste I never use a helmet...
1) There are no dangers comparable to the ones found off piste and I avoid the crowded slopes.
2) I never injuried during all these years while developping the EC discipline.
3) I like to feel light.
4) The helmet may fill with sprays of snow when the head is a few centimeters close to the slope :!: It depends on the snow conditions, and I really need goggles on which the snow can't accumulate. EC has really specific constraints :D

-Patrice

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Post by A carver from Holland » Tuesday 15 October 2002, 7:37

What a discussion :)

Well, to add mine to it: i never thought about wearing a helmet. Ok, when i drive my streetracer i wear a helmet (should be a smart move at around 250 km/h), but when carving.....never!

As i posted in the other part of this forum. I used to be a ski and snowboard instructor. I teached all my students to ALWAYS pay attention on the slope. You are not the only one there and especially when making a back side turn, look over your shoulder. When carving i anticipate on what other people are doing. Once in a while you see those crazy guys going down a crowded slope at full speed. Then i think: what a f*cking asshole! No respect for other people! When it's crowded, i addapt my board to the conditions (slalom instead of GS) and reduce my speed!

When going offpiste....that's a complete different discussion :)

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Helmet... goooood!

Post by Eddie Risser » Wednesday 16 October 2002, 3:54

I was at Park City ski resort one day last year and my friends and I were trying to get from one run to another. In doing this we had to traverse a run with hip high moguls and a cat track that ran threw the middle of it. We used to think it was funny to lean back on our boards a little bit and use are legs to act like a shock absorber as we skipped across the tops of the moguls, we hit the cat track and not knowing what was on the other side (dumb mistake) jumped it at a fast speed. We landed on more moguls but very close to a grove of aspen trees that made the trail more narrow. There is a lift at the bottom of that run that my friends brother works on and he told me that the day before someone else jumped like that an flew strait into the trees, crashed and died of head trauma. I know it was not smart to jump without knowing what was on the other side but the person who died would have lived if he wore a helmet.

Eddie

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