Ski Helmets Gain Popularity With Skiers

Personal experiences seem to be increasing skiers confidence in and desire to wear ski helmets on the slope. A good example one report says is skier Anita Alger - she tried to get past two snowboarders as she skied from one slope to another at Heavenly last year and hit her head against a boulder. She was wearing a ski helmet and recalls the accident seemed to happen in slow motion.

Sources say longtime skiers helmet usage has increased, but they’re not accepted by everyone. A 13 year old died Dec. 27 while snowboarding without a helmet at Heavenly - she was found next to a tree by her father. Mountain Resort’s Skyline Trail. Her father found her next to a tree.

Injury Prevention journal surveyed 6,400 skiers and snowboarders at 29 ski areas in the western United States and Canada for helmet usage last year. California and Nevada ski areas ranked last for ski helmet usage - two in every 13 skiers and snowboarders used them in those areas said the report.

Alger likes ski helmets after her accident. She said “If I didn’t have that helmet on, I have no doubt I wouldn’t be talking about this now.” Her ski helmet was a Christmas gift and she was trying to set an example for her kids by wearing it. She and her husband make their kids wear ski helmets while on the slopes.

Researchers studied injuries at a Vermont ski area and sayhelmets reduce the risk of cuts and bruises from accidents but do not save lives or reduce serious injuries. Others in the medical field do not believe this.

Some say a problem is that skiers and snowboarders travel at high speedsand it would take more than a ski helmet to save lives, but two Colorado neurosurgeons sat ski helmets reduce the risk of sustaining a brain injury of any kind by about 60 percent to 65 percent and mean an 80 percent reduction in fatalities. They plan on publishing an article reviewing 701 traumatic head injuries caused by skiing and snowboarding.

Their information shows ski helmets are best at reducing injuries when one skier or snowboarder hits another.

Most researchers admit that there’s not a lot of data supporting the safety of ski helmets. But there is data to suggest that since ski helmets became more popular on slopes, skiers and snowboarders have concussions instead of more serious injuries, such as fractures or bleeding inside the skull.