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Wear A Helmet!

2K views 16 replies 12 participants last post by  kysnowboarder 
#1 ·
#3 ·
Just decided to bump this thread up for 2010. A bud of my got blind sided just this last weekend at the local hill. Temps finaly hit the teens above zero and the hill was busy. He was hit from behind, and ending up going to the ER for a CAT scan. He is very sore today, but does not have a concussion. Sadly, I have been without a helmet for 3 years. I will be picking up one tonight at the local board shop. Be safe!
 
#4 ·
I had a really bad mountain biking wreck about 12 years ago. Since then, I've been religious about wearing a helmet.

Basically, I was heading back to the campsite hauling down a dirt road. Now, I've ridden that road God knows how many times. Well, I come ripping around a blind curve and there's a gate closed! The gate has always been there, but it had never been closed in all the years I had ridden there. I slammed on both brakes and was going to try to lay it down, but I had no time. I slammed into that gate going about mach II. All I remember is the sound of the impact and being airborn. When I woke up it was dark and two people I didn't recognize were standing over me. The next thing I remember is being back at the campsite. I don't remember anything else until the next day. I found out that no one knew who those guys were, they just happened to come by and I guess I was able to incoherently mumble enough information to them that they were able to get me back to my campsite. Inspecting the damage the next day, the bike was destroyed. The entire frame was warped. My helmet (yes, I was wearing one) was cracked almost completely in half with a rock embeddeed about 1/2" deep in it. The only thing that saved my teeth was that I bit my toungue. I bet completely through my tongue and still chipped three teeth.

There is little doubt in my mind that if I wasn't wearing a helmet that I wouldn't be typing this.
 
#11 ·
I wouldn't be surprised. That was a nasty blow that guy took and he took another one when he came down. From the looks of it, he hit right about the base of his skull on the take off. That's one of the worst places to take a shot. That's the reason why blows to the back of the head are illegal in boxing and MMA. It's not to protect the back of the head so much as it is to protect the base of the skull where the neck and spine connect to the brain stem. It doesn't take a huge shot to do a lot of damage to that area.
 
#13 ·
There is a common theme amongst all of the helmet users here...

We have all crashed or seen someone get hurt without one. Let our lessons be easy learned ones for those of you who still think using helmets are "pussy".

I've mentioned this before... I know a lot of people don't like helmets because of the way they feel. You can't judge it by just trying one on and wearing it around a shop or even on a couple of runs. During this time, you are consciously critiquing the helmet therefore noticing it more than you would normally. It took me a few runs with one on and now I don't even notice I have it on. I have even walked into the lounge and sat down and realized I needed to take my helmet off because I forgot about it.

If any of you want to know, I use a Smith Variant. It is really light and gave me great protection from the spills I've been having lately while practicing new tricks. Not going to be a 100% skull saver, but still much better than not having one.
 
#17 ·
On friday I got clipped from behind by a skier as I was approaching the lift line, fell backwards, took a prety hard hit to the head. Hard enough that I heard a lot of ewes and ahs from the people standing in the line. I bit my toungue, tasted blood for like the next 5 runs. Actually think I had minor wiplash. Lower front of my neck still hurts today although it has improved drastically, and I had a minor headache Sat and Sunday....I had a helmet on, I have been asking my self what that would have been like without a helmet. It still amazes me that people wearing helmets in snow sports is the exception, it seems even alot of the pros don't wear helmets.

I understand in the really big crashes they are not going to do much, but like my incident from Friday I am pretty confident the helmet kept me out of the hospital.
 
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