Here's a few reasons I feel it's alright for me to weigh in on this thread:
1) Danny Toumarkine is my roommate
2) I didn't wear a helmet until last year
3) I've known some of the Stept guys going on ten years
4) My good friend Sally Francklyn is alive today because she was wearing a helmet
5) I'm an avid support of High Fives Non-Profit, which is launching an helmet campaign this fall with POC
So now that those credentials are out of the way...
You should wear a helmet. You should also eat healthy, exercise, not smoke or drink, and take care of yourself. No one is perfect, and we all deviate from the things we're supposed to do in favor of freedom of choice. I support this argument.
I also think helmet awareness is key. Actually, that's not an argument. That's a fact. People should wear helmets because they protect your head. Simple as that. The mountain, especially in the park, is a place of unpredictability. I wear a helmet 98% of the time when I'm skiing not because I'm worried about me, I'm worried about the other person that might make a mistake that has shitty consequences for my head.
My friend and fellow journalist Sally Francklyn had an accident she didn't see coming in Jackson Hole. Her choice to wear a helmet saved her life. Danny wasn't wearing a helmet and if he was, he might've walked away with only a serious concussion instead of a traumatic brain injury that changed his life. I believe in learning vicariously through others, i.e., I don't need to try heroin to know it's bad for me, because I've watched what it does to close friends.
In short, I'm not going to call up Clayton Vila or Sean Jordan and say, "hey guys, as your friend, I think you should wear a helmet" in the same way they're not going to call up me and say, "Hey Rogge, I think you shouldn't smoke cigarettes when you're at the bar at night." I support what Stept puts out there and I think they're fully aware of the consequences, which is what makes them the absolute best at what they do. All that aside, don't kid yourselves. Wearing a helmet is fucking smart.