Absolute Alps Holidays Ski Blog

Ski helmets and the debate about whether to wear one or not, is a topic that is constantly coming up in news.

I would definitely say that more and more people are wearing them each year on the slopes, a recent survey said that up to 77 percent of British skiers now claim to wear a ski helmet and that’s up from 62 percent just a couple of years ago in 2010. 77 percent is pretty impressive figure and I would be very interested to know how that figure breaks down by age group.  Parents usually insist on children wearing them and it’s an essential cool piece of kit for most snowboarders too.

This year a major ski insurer, Essential Travel,  has become the first in the UK company is insist that all ski insurance policy holders must wear a helmet on the slopes. This created quite a fuss in newspapers and on-line, but was it just a publicity stunt ? or just sound advise ?

So what are the arguments for and against ?

I’ll say at this stage that always wear a ski helmet and have done for years, I don’t often fall and can’t remember the last time I hit my head hard. But that’s not really the point, if hard head falls were normal then we would be having a different debate. The point is that I see people injured almost every time I spend a day on the mountain, however they came to be injured it’s a fact that by wearing a helmet they are reducing their chances of sustaining a serious head injury.

I find wearing a ski helmet feels completely natural now, it keeps my head warm on cold days and provides protection from the sun on warm days. It holds my goggles on place perfectly and I never have any problems with them steaming up if I need to take them off and put them on the top of the helmet. With so many designs out there on the market now it shouldn’t be a problem for everyone to find a perfect fitting one.

Accidents occur for many reasons, sometimes its your own fault and other times it could be someone else to blame. But if you are wearing a helmet then chances of serious head injury are massively reduced.

I’ve heard people say that wearing a helmet reduces your awareness of what’s going on around you, but I don’t agree with that at all. Modern helmet design has flowed down from high level sports such as motor racing so with a well-fitting helmet there are no issues with either vision or hearing in my opinion.

The other thing talked about is whether the wearing a helmet gives some people a false sense on security and so encourages rise taking, I would say this is definitely a real effect but for the majority of people it is not a massive effect and can be counteracted with some sensible advise.

So with Christmas coming up get a ski helmet added to your wish list, they’re not expensive and could save you a very serious life changing injury.

Be safe everyone, and if you’re still looking for the perfect ski chalet for next seasons holiday get in touch as we still few weeks available.