Replying to Worrying Trend (Helmets)

Hi,

I'm Fred, I've been on NS for quite a while now and I've seen a lot of trends come and go. This one seems to be on the go (at least in videos), I'm talking about helmets.

First things first, a few acknowledgements and assumptions about helmets:

I realize wearing a helmet is personal choice, people are responsible for their own choices.

Even if you wear a helmet there is no guarantee that you will be saved from a life threatening head injury.

Fuck you, don't tell me what to wear.

Now then,

I've seen a lot of videos on this site and recently they have become very style focused, which I think is great. I love watching clean tricks (gives me inspiration). However, with the style also comes the "style appropriate" attire. This usually does not include use of a helmet. It is these types of videos that I see often get rated high. I'm guessing that a lot of skiers are very confident in their skiing abilities and are very familiar with features that they prefer to go for a cleaner look for videos.

Now I'm old enough to know that I'm very uncomfortable not wearing a helmet while skiing, I'd probably ski a lot slower and would certainly not go near a park without one. I've also been wearing a back protector for almost 10 years. I've been skiing all my life and have had a few episodes where I can honestly say I was very glad to be wearing these bits of equipment.

However, I know the average age of this site is a lot lower than me (I'm 31) and are more susceptible to trends and "what's cool". So I think it's a shame that it's becoming "less cool" to protect yourself and be a role model for self preservation for the sake of what seems to be a cleaner look in videos.

I know in snowboarding, where a lot of inspiration for skiing is derived from, helmets have never been cool and probably never will be. There have been a lot of accidents. I've always thought this has been a terrible culture within the snowboarding community. I'd prefer this not become the case for skiing.

Anyone else agree? or am I completely off.

Regardless of your choice,
Stay safe and enjoy this winter guys.