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Helmets
Re: Helmets
Been saying this for years...
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michaelangelo
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Re: Helmets
I wear a helmet but man I fucking hate wearing it
Re: Helmets
I wore a helmet for a season and a half and got more hurt in that period than at any other time in the last 25 yrs or so. Pretty sure it negatively affected my spatial awareness and skewed my perception of risk.
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eleveneightnate
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Re: Helmets
Giro and Bern used to make helmets with softer impact foam that actually absorbed shock and could take multiple hits, but they weren't "certified" by bureaucratic acronym orgs so they stopped making them.
I've had my Maze come in handy a few times, mainly for smacking branches and getting hit by skiers putting the bar down on the lift. I slid out on a cliff landing once and slammed my occipital lobe into a rocky low tide patch, not sure if the helmet saved me then or just made things worse but it had a huge gash in it. CO is so crowded that I'd feel naked without one there, more afraid of someone on vacation than any terrain mishaps.
I've had my Maze come in handy a few times, mainly for smacking branches and getting hit by skiers putting the bar down on the lift. I slid out on a cliff landing once and slammed my occipital lobe into a rocky low tide patch, not sure if the helmet saved me then or just made things worse but it had a huge gash in it. CO is so crowded that I'd feel naked without one there, more afraid of someone on vacation than any terrain mishaps.
Re: Helmets
Not sure how they get their data. I have kissed a tree a few times. I never filled out a form stating that I had a potential head injury. All of those studies are just semi educated guesses.
There is an easy test, take a brick and drop it on your head from about 12 inches. Now do the same thing with a helmet on. I understand about the brain slamming into the skull on impact, but also adding a large hole in your skull is not going to help your chances of survival.
I couldn't care less if people wear them or not, it is a personal choice. Once you start getting to an advanced age you look at things a little different.
There is an easy test, take a brick and drop it on your head from about 12 inches. Now do the same thing with a helmet on. I understand about the brain slamming into the skull on impact, but also adding a large hole in your skull is not going to help your chances of survival.
I couldn't care less if people wear them or not, it is a personal choice. Once you start getting to an advanced age you look at things a little different.
Re: Helmets
I think I mentioned earlier that I wear one because I had brain surgery and I am literally missing pieces of my skull from that (injury was not from snowboarding fwiw)
but…
but…
and tbh, the two helmets I own, carbon fiber Bern and quarter giro are pretty comfortable and the former almost feels non-existent because it's so lightweight, but I feel like putting one on my head is giving in to the annoying safety nazis/karens that keep preaching about helmets and always tell other people to wear one, whether in the lift line or on social media posts.
New York/Vermont
Re: Helmets
There are for sure reasons people would wear one and obviously you have one.
I have a total knee replacement so I wear a full custom DonJoy brace every day I ride/split.
So like you, a certain circumstance where it makes the use a good idea, even if it's known to not be a fully reliable safety measure, but every little bit helps.
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Re: Helmets
I'm sure I've mentioned this before but I once had an insurance actuary run an analysis on the the risk of skiing/boarding without an helmet, and the risk was equivalent to driving 100 miles (distance) in a car. That's of course, with all the vehicle risk mitigation protections in place (driving is less risky now than ever, not accounting for shit drivers). So strictly speaking, any time you drive an hour and a half in your car it equal in risk to riding without a helmet. This is of course, taking into the analysis ALL injuries from the 1st timers on up. Of course novices are going to be more prone to injury simply because they lack the skill and abilities to mitigate falls and injury. So, it would seem to reason that the risk for higher skill levels would be much less.
Adding into this equation the findings put forth in this article saying that for high impacts, helmets are not the saving grace people think they are. So it would seem likely that for higher level riders, who are doing things that increase the chances of higher impact, but where the helmet has much less effectivity, the overwhelming risk mitigation is skill. But, as we know, even for the most skilled still there's a non 0 chance of head injury. With or without a helmet. It seems, novice and low skill are heavily better off wearing helmets and other protection. But as skill rises, the benefits become less to the point they're marginally low or non-benefit.
Anyhow, there's a lot of judgment for skilled riders who choose not to wear a helmet. But no judgement for anyone driving an hour and a half in their car. Or for many other things we collectively do that have equal risk, but are done daily and so ordinarily that we are rather blasé about the dangers. One can always argue that anyone and everyone is better off with a helmet than without one, for whatever marginally benefit they add, to any situation, whatsoever. There's always a chance someone may slip in the bathtub, driveway, grocery store, where that helmet would be of great benefit. I believe that most of the dangers of life are in someone's ability to manage them, and some folks would not benefit enough to make it worthwhile, then again perhaps some folks should probably just go through life wearing helmets.
Adding into this equation the findings put forth in this article saying that for high impacts, helmets are not the saving grace people think they are. So it would seem likely that for higher level riders, who are doing things that increase the chances of higher impact, but where the helmet has much less effectivity, the overwhelming risk mitigation is skill. But, as we know, even for the most skilled still there's a non 0 chance of head injury. With or without a helmet. It seems, novice and low skill are heavily better off wearing helmets and other protection. But as skill rises, the benefits become less to the point they're marginally low or non-benefit.
Anyhow, there's a lot of judgment for skilled riders who choose not to wear a helmet. But no judgement for anyone driving an hour and a half in their car. Or for many other things we collectively do that have equal risk, but are done daily and so ordinarily that we are rather blasé about the dangers. One can always argue that anyone and everyone is better off with a helmet than without one, for whatever marginally benefit they add, to any situation, whatsoever. There's always a chance someone may slip in the bathtub, driveway, grocery store, where that helmet would be of great benefit. I believe that most of the dangers of life are in someone's ability to manage them, and some folks would not benefit enough to make it worthwhile, then again perhaps some folks should probably just go through life wearing helmets.
jadhevou