Skiing is a thrilling activity that none can avoid. However, safety measures are similarly necessary during these activities. After all, you never want to break your nose during skiing. Ski helmets are one of those safety measures.
The query is whether it is required. Furthermore, if it is needed, how necessary this is. Well, breaking it down will help you.
Is helmet required for skiing?
Helmet is required for skiing. In fact, it is the most important safety wear one should have when one skis. That’s because skiing is a risky task. The head can get injured severely. Therefore, the helmet saves the head and ensures safety. Besides, the helmets provide people with comfort.
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Are helmets mandatory for skiing?
Helmets are mandatory for skiing only in the case of children and under age groups. It is required for everyone. This requirement is sometimes posed by specific states and organizations where you conduct skiing.
For example, New Jersey states require child skiers to wear helmets. Moreover, for Vail Ski Resort in the US and all ski resorts in the Canadian province, wearing a helmet is mandatory.
The reasons behind all these policies are simple: your safety and soundness. If you hurt yourself without wearing a helmet, the organization’s policy will be at stake. So, they want all the skiers to provide an excellent ski journey with a helmet.
Should you wear a helmet when skiing?
You should wear a helmet when skiing. You should wear a helmet while skiing regardless of adults or kids. However, if you are under 10, wearing a helmet becomes mandatory.
Now comes the fact that if wearing a helmet is optional, should you wear that helmet or not. The answer is yes because apart from maintaining the rules, the helmet’s primary purpose is to lessen head injuries. So, you should be wearing a helmet whenever you go skiing.
Moreover, since it is a rule set by different organizations, you should definitely follow this and wear a helmet, regardless of an adult or a child.
Why you should wear a helmet to skiing?
There are many reasons for which you should wear a helmet during skiing. The causes vary from personal protection to maintaining rules. If you know more details about the causes, you can gauge the significance of wearing a helmet.
You should wear a helmet for the following reasons:
Prevent head injuries:
Your head is an essential part of your body, right? So, protecting this organ is more necessary than others. Statistics say wearing a helmet prevents 60% of head injuries.
When you ski, there are gusts of wind that can misdirect you. As a result, your head can heat an ice bar. At that moment, if you wear a helmet, your head remains safe inside that helmet. Thus, the helmet protects your brain.
Protection from heat:
Unless you are in the shoes of a skier, it will be hard to understand how many adversities lie ahead of skiers when they ski. Sometimes the scorching heat of the sun or sometimes the freezing, snowy wind can impede your way.
A helmet has enough layers to protect your head from those. Furthermore, some helmets absorb the ultraviolet rays of the sun. Thus, helmets can be a fantastic way of saving you from harmful rays too.
Maintaining laws:
As mentioned earlier, some states and institutions have laws for wearing helmets. So, they don’t let you ski unless you have a helmet. Additionally, maintaining rules is your duty as a citizen. That’s why, wear a helmet and fulfill your duty.
However, non-helmet skiers will not get the pass of ski, anyway, since it is a restriction.
Do beginner skiers need helmets?
Beginner skiers need helmets. In fact, they are the ones who are in need of a helmet the most. However, that doesn’t mean you are an unskilled skier. You should consider wearing a helmet just a step toward your protection.
That’s because usually, beginner skiers don’t have enough experience in skiing, that doesn’t mean they are unable. On the contrary, when you ski several times, you get a better idea of how to overcome obstacles. You also come to know how to predict the barriers (great, right?)
As a result, while the beginner skiers ski, they hit themselves badly with obstacles, or at least they remain at risk of doing so. For keeping yourself from such danger, newbie skiers have to wear helmets.
When did helmets become mandatory in skiing?
Helmets became mandatory in skiing in 1960. This announcement was made at the 1960 Olympics in Squaw Valley, California. Back then, the authority declared hardshell helmets as a requirement for all skiers. However, the history is longer than it sounds.
John Semmelink, who was a Canadian downhiller, lost life at Garmisch hitting his head in a rock of a mountain while he was wearing a leather helmet, which was not safe enough. Observing that incident and following events, the authority made helmets mandatory.
However, the rules were not that stern at the get-go. As more incidents happened, the rules became more necessary.
How does a ski helmet protect you?
A ski helmet protects you in several ways; so many that you may lose count. That’s why you shouldn’t neglect ski helmets or the laws related to them.
The following are the ways in which ski helmets protect you:
Saving from a strained neck:
While skiing, you jerk continuously to keep a balanced body and adjust momentum. So, it is likely for you to have a strained neck. However, helmets help you by positioning your neck properly. Thus, these helmets don’t let necks strain.
Stopping harmful rays:
Along with the heat, the sun also emits different types of rays, some of which are harmful. But helmets protect your head by stopping them before reaching your head. And so, they absorb those rays.
Eradication of discomfort:
Ski helmets also keep you warm in the cold and assuage the hot feeling. Thus, they are a piece of comfort.
What kind of ski helmet should I get?
You must get a helmet that fits you in size and thickness. Though choosing the fitting helmet is not that hard, you need to choose carefully.
Proper helmet selection is neither as impossible as catching air nor as easy as drinking water. It is simply the best way to protect your brain. You should choose the following kinds of helmets:
- Features and accessories helmets with camera mount, audio, liners, goggles compatibility, hard case
- Helmet with safety certification such as ASTM F2040 and CE EN1077
- Helmet fitting in size like chin straps and buckles fit
- Constructively (in-mold and injection-molded helmets) good helmets
- Helmets with pepper components like shell and inner liner
What size ski helmet should I get?
You should get the helmet which is two fingers wide from your eyebrows, covering the round area of the back entirely and staying above your ears. That is the ideal size of a ski helmet.
For measuring the size of the helmets correctly, you can use measurement equipment. You should also check the size of your helmet at the size tag. That’s why you must know your suitable helmet size before buying one.
Too loose or too tight helmets are both unfavorable. While loose helmets have a fear of falling off from your head, the tight ones can give you severe headaches.
How tight should a ski helmet be?
A helmet should not be very tight: it should be of a shape so that your head enters into it quickly without putting much pressure. Industry experts also forbid wearing too-tight helmets.
Moreover, tight helmets have other side effects. They can cause terrible headaches and make you feel dizzy while skiing. Both are very risky because they distract you from your objects on the path. So, it is easy to overlook an obstacle. The result? A fatal injury!
So, your helmets should have room for our heads to move side by side and up-down. Your helmet’s straps should also not shrink your fleshy skin. If it does so, it is too tight for you.
Can you use a climbing helmet for skiing?
You can’t use a climbing helmet for skiing. That’s because each type of helmet has different purposes. Climbing helmets have many caveats when used as ski helmets.
First of all, climbing helmets usually don’t have ray protection features. Since you will be far away from the sun while climbing, these climbers don’t require UV ray protection, but ski helmets do.
Secondly, climbing helmets also differ in structure since your body posture varies while climbing and skiing. So, a climbing helmet will not give you as much comfort and protection as a ski helmet.
What are the requirements for a ski racing helmet fit?
The requirements for a ski racing helmet fit are almost the same as standard ski helmets. The only difference is they should fit snug. In other words, ski helmets need to be more comfortable.
At the same time, you have to take care so that they are not too loose. That’s because, during racing, you whiz continuously. In that situation, if your helmet is over-loose, that will be a real disaster.
For comfort, these helmets should also be with foam inside them.
States require ski helmets. However, you should ask your inner self: is there anything more important to you than your safety? If the answer is yes (which should be), you use ski helmets anytime you ski.
Since your brain is a crucial organ, you should take every possible measure to protect this organ: one of which is wearing a helmet. Finally, happy skiing!