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Okay, true story. Years ago I struggled with this exact logic regarding skiing with helmet. After serious consideration I decided to start skiing so carefully t

Okay, true story. Years ago I struggled with this exact logic regarding skiing with helmet. After serious consideration I decided to start skiing so carefully that I do not need a helmet. As you may guess at this point, The very first day I left my helmet home, I got into an accident and got a skull fracture. I started using my helmet again after that. (But another safety related thing I have started to really doubt. Skiing alone is supposed to be risky. I do ski alone, quite a lot actually. I have gotten into my share of accidents of various seriousness. And not a single of them has been when I have been alone.)

DeBraid 4y ago
I have the exact opposite experience. My first time ever wearing a helmet on the slopes I slammed head-first into a tree. Got up, laughed it off, and rode away. Better lucky than good.
somewhereoutth 4y ago
I suspect skiing was invented to cull the clumsy (and the simply unlucky) from the ranks of the rich.
- speed_spread 4y ago
  There was already Polo for that.
  - qzw 4y ago
    Well, you would need something when it's too cold for polo.
- stjohnswarts 4y ago
  I had this exact talk with my rich buddy in high school once 15 years ago :) . He was heading for a ski trip that my family couldn't have afforded in my wildest dreams.
aphroz 4y ago
Michael Schumacher would disagree.
- isbvhodnvemrwvn 4y ago
  Are you one of the guys who doesn't wear a seat belt due to 1 in a million chance that it might actually not help you?
- dralley 4y ago
  Michael Schumacher had a GoPro on his helmet that punched through.
Brian_K_White 4y ago
I've never skied with a helmet. Ridiculous. The only thing you can do about the risk of hitting or being hit, is stay home.
- Loic 4y ago
  In German speaking countries we went from 15% to 3% of the ski accidents with hospitalization being related to head injuries, this within the past 15/20 years. This correlates very well with the increase of helmet usage.
  - somenameforme 4y ago
    Do you happen to know the overall change in accidents? That's the big question behind the motivation for this change. There's no doubt that helmets would reduce the percent of all accidents that are head related, but does some reduced concern about safety result in more accidents overall?
    - Loic 4y ago
      From the biggest Ski insurance/interest group in Germany (the ones from the Ski federation), the stats show a 50% decrease since the 80's.[0] The trend is stable/slight increase in the past 5 years. For the head injuries, it reduced from 2/1000 skier to about 1/1000 skier/year. It follows the general trend of the number of accidents per skier/year. Looking at the material and the quality of the slopes in the past 40 years, they are definitely a big driver of this change, they improved a lot! [0]: https://www.stiftung.ski/sis-lab/asu-unfallanalyse/ https://www.stiftung.ski/sis-lab/asu-unfallanalyse/
- darkerside 4y ago
  I have never had a serious accident but started wearing a helmet. I don't think there's a large risk either way because I don't do a lot of tree skiing. But I wouldn't call it ridiculous. No more so than wearing a bike helmet.
- nerdponx 4y ago
analog31 4y ago
I have a ski helmet at home with a big crack in it. My daughter was wearing it. She's a cautious skier with a lot of training.
cameronh90 4y ago
My old boss was an experienced skier on an organised cross country ski tour and got killed by an avalanche. It was in a low avalanche risk area with no avalanches forecast, and he was wearing all safety equipment, including one of those balloons. Medical help was almost immediate and nobody else on the tour was seriously injured. Sometimes the universe just wants you dead.
- cgrealy 4y ago
  The fact is that experienced back country skiers are more likely to die in an avalanche. Part of this is complacency, but honestly most of it is just probability. The more you do something, the more chances you have for just the wrong combination of factors to happen.

DeBraid 4y ago

I have the exact opposite experience. My first time ever wearing a helmet on the slopes I slammed head-first into a tree. Got up, laughed it off, and rode away. Better lucky than good.

somewhereoutth 4y ago

I suspect skiing was invented to cull the clumsy (and the simply unlucky) from the ranks of the rich.

speed_spread 4y ago
There was already Polo for that.
- qzw 4y ago
  Well, you would need something when it's too cold for polo.
stjohnswarts 4y ago
I had this exact talk with my rich buddy in high school once 15 years ago :) . He was heading for a ski trip that my family couldn't have afforded in my wildest dreams.

aphroz 4y ago

Michael Schumacher would disagree.

isbvhodnvemrwvn 4y ago
Are you one of the guys who doesn't wear a seat belt due to 1 in a million chance that it might actually not help you?
dralley 4y ago
Michael Schumacher had a GoPro on his helmet that punched through.

Brian_K_White 4y ago

I've never skied with a helmet. Ridiculous. The only thing you can do about the risk of hitting or being hit, is stay home.

Loic 4y ago
In German speaking countries we went from 15% to 3% of the ski accidents with hospitalization being related to head injuries, this within the past 15/20 years. This correlates very well with the increase of helmet usage.
- somenameforme 4y ago
  Do you happen to know the overall change in accidents? That's the big question behind the motivation for this change. There's no doubt that helmets would reduce the percent of all accidents that are head related, but does some reduced concern about safety result in more accidents overall?
  - Loic 4y ago
    From the biggest Ski insurance/interest group in Germany (the ones from the Ski federation), the stats show a 50% decrease since the 80's.[0] The trend is stable/slight increase in the past 5 years. For the head injuries, it reduced from 2/1000 skier to about 1/1000 skier/year. It follows the general trend of the number of accidents per skier/year. Looking at the material and the quality of the slopes in the past 40 years, they are definitely a big driver of this change, they improved a lot! [0]: https://www.stiftung.ski/sis-lab/asu-unfallanalyse/ https://www.stiftung.ski/sis-lab/asu-unfallanalyse/
darkerside 4y ago
I have never had a serious accident but started wearing a helmet. I don't think there's a large risk either way because I don't do a lot of tree skiing. But I wouldn't call it ridiculous. No more so than wearing a bike helmet.
nerdponx 4y ago

analog31 4y ago

I have a ski helmet at home with a big crack in it. My daughter was wearing it. She's a cautious skier with a lot of training.

cameronh90 4y ago

My old boss was an experienced skier on an organised cross country ski tour and got killed by an avalanche. It was in a low avalanche risk area with no avalanches forecast, and he was wearing all safety equipment, including one of those balloons. Medical help was almost immediate and nobody else on the tour was seriously injured. Sometimes the universe just wants you dead.

cgrealy 4y ago
The fact is that experienced back country skiers are more likely to die in an avalanche. Part of this is complacency, but honestly most of it is just probability. The more you do something, the more chances you have for just the wrong combination of factors to happen.