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 Outward Bound author of the Seinfeld Thread, who builds his own snowshoes
Troy, MT
USA
3140 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2007 : 10:23 PM
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| it used to be that pretty much no one wore a helmet while skiing. now, when I was at sunpeaks over x-mas, about 50% of the people do. I'm one of them, mostly because I wouldnt go at that speed on my bike without one on, so why are skiis so much diferent. any insight why saftey is now the cool thing to do? |
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Hope, BC
Canada
7130 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2007 : 10:33 PM
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I always wondered why Kamakazees wore helmets 
Better safe than sorry! |
Edited by - AcesHigh on 01/24/2007 10:36 PM |
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Coffee swillin', wine lovin', Owl fearin' Andie McDowell stunt double, who sports retro gear
Vancouver, BC
5470 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2007 : 10:37 PM
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quote:
any insight why saftey is now the cool thing to do?
I don't know, but when I was a kid virtually nobody wore helmets on their bicycles either, and now I would feel really vulnerable without one. |
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North Vancouver, BC
Canada
1048 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2007 : 10:44 PM
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Yes it is interesting as we have watched in the last 15 years as bike helmets and ski helmets have gone from "only the dorks where helmets" to "only the dorks DON'T wear helmets"
If even if it is the law it is peoples freedom to do what they want but since it cost the govenment about $400,000 per year for a person who has a spinal cord incedent a helmet is a smart idea for any sport. I am all for pushing the limits however BC see way to many head traumas and I think if your injured without one your medical bills should come out of your pocket book. Kind of like if you choose to smoke...no lung cancer medical for you...
Hlemets are smart, comfortable and now COOL |
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Night owl posting,Subie driving, backpacking Dad who is perpetually trying to catch up to his kids on the trail.
Vancouver, BC
Canada
3064 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2007 : 11:31 PM
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This is a phenomenon that has affected all sports and has not required regulation. When I was a kid, there were still goalies in the NHL who didn't wear face masks and nobody wore helmets. Now masks are universal, helmets are worn by the vast majority and additional items like face shields are common place.
Look at cycling: a few years ago, none of the pros on the Tour de France wore helmets for road stages, now almost all do. Or downhill mountain biking: full helmets with face protection are standard.
It's partly just safety consciousness but it's also (I think) due to the advent of better materials and designs. Effective, light & comfortable helmets are available where this didn't used to be the case. Taking bike helmets as an example, 20 years ago about the only helmet that offered substantial protection was a huge, heavy and poorly ventilated beast made by Bell that made the wearer look like a mushroom on wheels.
The advent and popularity of "extreme" sports may also be a factor. Ski films used to feature folks doing big turns down untouched powder slopes. If somebody fell, they would get snow down their neck. Now it's all about jumping massive cliffs and racing sluff down mega-steep slopes. The young, cutting edge guys and gals grabbing the attention are wearing helmets because it would be just plain insane not to. And if the image setters wear helmets, then it must be OK (nor dorky) for everyone else. |
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Back busted, pumpkin carvin, toyota drivin, wacky hair canvas painter that likes a cold Beer on a subzero day
Abbotsford, B.C.
Canada
1078 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2007 : 06:50 AM
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| With the advanced technology I find that ski helmets regulate temperature better then a toque. Oh, and they provide safety when falling or hitting trees… |
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North Vancouver, BC
Canada
1048 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2007 : 07:22 AM
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Actually people have needed regulation. All though I do not agree that it should be the law. Bike helmet usage really made a bike leep when the law to wear one was introduced. Education was a big step but the law helped with the older crowd who never wore them as kids.
In the pro peleton of cycling the reasone they wear them now is because they recieve heavy fines if thye don't. Also sponsorship dictates this to them and other groups as well.
It does not matter how people get on board with wearing helmets, it is just a good idea. I do a lot of slide shows in schools to young people and they have grown up with them so they know how important they are. The only group hard to convince is the older crowd who you see on the seawall in-line skating with pads on their elbow, knees but no helmet. Where is the logic in that. I guess they don't mind that they could be a vegetable as long as their wrist, knees and elbows look pretty! |
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spruce grove, ab
Canada
296 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2007 : 4:26 PM
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the thing that gets me is with everything else you buy tv , video lap top , car, when it breaks doing its job, you can get it either repaired or replaced under warrenty, helmets - you gotta go out and get a new one if you damage it while its protecting your noggin , no fare ! |
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Outward Bound author of the Seinfeld Thread, who builds his own snowshoes
Troy, MT
USA
3140 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2007 : 8:49 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by bobdep
the thing that gets me is with everything else you buy tv , video lap top , car, when it breaks doing its job, you can get it either repaired or replaced under warrenty, helmets - you gotta go out and get a new one if you damage it while its protecting your noggin , no fare !
its simple. how much do you trust an anonomous minimum wadge worker? with you life? probably not. with your TV? sure, why not. (car is the exception, mechanics make good money, therefore you get good service, hopefully) |
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Intermediate Member
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coquitlam, B.C.
Canada
792 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2007 : 9:29 PM
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A great editorial in the Globe and Mail yesterday on this very subject.
It seems that there is a move afoot to put in a law requiring helmets for toboganing and sledding.
Statistical probability of dying of a head injury in one of these activities 1/50,000,000.
The most dangerous part of any sport is driving to the location. |
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 | Dru
Mountain Grammar Police
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Sardonic sandbagging scoundrel, Cascade Climbers lobotomized spraymeister, space blanket flyer, new millennium vulgarian betaboy and friend to all squids
Climbing, a mountain
Canada
∞ Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2007 : 10:08 PM
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It's not the dying. Dying is cheap.
It's the permanent brain damage that is scary and that costs the public money! |
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Langley, BC
Canada
1513 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2007 : 12:24 AM
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Just wondering, how many people do you know personally who have suffered a serious head injury?
I've been around a little while, and I know none.
Dan
http://www.westcoastpaddler.com
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Coffee swillin', wine lovin', Owl fearin' Andie McDowell stunt double, who sports retro gear
Vancouver, BC
5470 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2007 : 12:54 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by WestCoastPaddler
Just wondering, how many people do you know personally who have suffered a serious head injury?
Hmmmm....knew a kid at school (older than me) when I was in Grade 1 who was brain damaged due to an altercation with a car on his bike.
Personally, I've cracked a bike helmet when my bike skidded out of control on a bike path (good thing it wasn't my head); another time I was run into by another cyclist and I heard the helmet on my head skid across pavement for a foot or two, and another time I whacked the back of my helmet on the ground so hard I saw stars (skidding on wet grass as I rode around to give space to some pedestrians on a shared path). None of those times was I going very fast, and in all three of those instances I've been glad to have worn a helmet. |
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spruce grove, ab
Canada
296 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2007 : 05:37 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Farmer
quote:
Originally posted by bobdep
the thing that gets me is with everything else you buy tv , video lap top , car, when it breaks doing its job, you can get it either repaired or replaced under warrenty, helmets - you gotta go out and get a new one if you damage it while its protecting your noggin , no fare !
its simple. how much do you trust an anonomous minimum wadge worker? with you life? probably not. with your TV? sure, why not. (car is the exception, mechanics make good money, therefore you get good service, hopefully)
hi farmer , but surely its the injection moulding of polystyrene machine and the quality control guy your putting your faith in , for defect control...my point was if they brought down the price of recreational safty gear even more people would wear it , and replace it after a scrape , i cant beleive it cost $90 to make a helmet , more like $15 ! more profit for the manufacturer through fear ? |
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North Vancouver, BC
Canada
1272 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2007 : 05:58 AM
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| It used to be that people in boats refused to wear PFD's but when manufacturers changed designs and colors people started wearing safety equipment. Same with the helmets there was the dorky ones and now you have stylish and color coordinates. |
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Popkum, BC
Canada
5902 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2007 : 08:00 AM
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I haven't worn a helmet for bicycling yet but I'm rethinking it after reading this thread |
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Ladner, BC
Canada
1179 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2007 : 4:31 PM
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i've noticed that the number of cyclists without a helmet is increasing. ...then there's the lack of lights... and those that have their kids wearing the helmets on the back of their head, or ones far too big and loose... etc.
Education.
quote:
Originally posted by WestCoastPaddler
Just wondering, how many people do you know personally who have suffered a serious head injury?
2 from car accidents (they're not mentally the same anymore...)
2 from sports (helmet was worn by one of them...but it's hockey heh)
mom had a concussion early this season at Grouse. After probably over 50 yrs of downhill skiing... she bought herself a helmet.
 mum at SunPeaks last week. she's turning 69 this yr. ...i think...
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Outward Bound author of the Seinfeld Thread, who builds his own snowshoes
Troy, MT
USA
3140 Posts |
Posted - 01/27/2007 : 09:58 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by bobdep
quote:
Originally posted by Farmer
quote:
Originally posted by bobdep
the thing that gets me is with everything else you buy tv , video lap top , car, when it breaks doing its job, you can get it either repaired or replaced under warrenty, helmets - you gotta go out and get a new one if you damage it while its protecting your noggin , no fare !
its simple. how much do you trust an anonomous minimum wadge worker? with you life? probably not. with your TV? sure, why not. (car is the exception, mechanics make good money, therefore you get good service, hopefully)
hi farmer , but surely its the injection moulding of polystyrene machine and the quality control guy your putting your faith in , for defect control...my point was if they brought down the price of recreational safty gear even more people would wear it , and replace it after a scrape , i cant beleive it cost $90 to make a helmet , more like $15 ! more profit for the manufacturer through fear ?
for the benifit it can give, I think $90 is worth it. I've personally hit my head extremly hard while biking, thank god I was wearing a helmet. I have a friend who was K.O. ed for about 10 seconds after overshooting a landing and hitting a tree. there is still a mark on the tree from where his helmet saved him. and when you pay that much for a helmet, they usually come with a crash replacement program, unlike the $15 ones you can buy. |
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Alberta-based choss climbin', flame throwin', rappel lovin', ass talkin' hater who doesn't like "Gumby" for a descriptor
1100 Posts |
Posted - 01/27/2007 : 10:05 AM
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| Helmets have their place, but are not always neccessary. Deep powder on wide open slopes, no point really. Tree skiing or hard packed groomers, jumps ect...not a bad idea to have one on. |
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ass wigglin, cheese lovin, 4x4 drivin, apostrophe hatin, hiking chick who loves camping on snow
spaceship..
Canada
7209 Posts |
Posted - 01/27/2007 : 10:37 AM
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Ive worked with people who've suffered brain injuries - one girl was in a car accident that involved drinking and driving on a grad night - She told me that for the first few years after her injury she kept telling people she was 'stupid', so sad.
Must be awful to know your brain isn't working properly let alone the frustration.
Helmets are worth it (for cycling), I'll happily pay for a new one if anything happens to mine, same for my daughter.
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Edited by - Shadee on 01/27/2007 10:47 AM |
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Outward Bound author of the Seinfeld Thread, who builds his own snowshoes
Troy, MT
USA
3140 Posts |
Posted - 01/27/2007 : 3:26 PM
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| I think another reason people dont repair their helmet campaired to repairing a car, tv etc, is that the repair bill and hassle wouldnt be cost effective compared to a new helmet |
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Topic |
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I've noticed something...
