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Helmets made compulsory
Wednesday October 7, 2009 - Email this article to a friend
Intrawest makes it compulsory for children in ski school, is encouraging everyone else and orders all its employees to wear a helmet in the terrain park. It follows the death of the actress Natasha Richardson at one of its resorts.
Intrawest owns a string of resorts in North America.
This season it will be compulsory for all children and teenagers in ski school to wear one and for any person in ski school, regardless of age, who goes into the terrain park.
The company will also encourage all skiers and snowboarders to wear helmets wherever they are on the slopes and it will be upgrading all its advertising photos and videos to show people wearing helmets.
Compulsion for kidsIntrawest said it will also order all of its employees to wear helmets while on duty in any terrain park for the 2010-2011 season, though some resorts are said to be implementing the rule for this season.
Intrawest operates nine ski resorts including Whistler, Mont Tremblant and Panorama in Canada. It was in Mont Tremblant that Natasha Richardson died last winter and ignited a widespread debate about helmet use.
Here onPlanetSKI we reported the death and the debate that followed. We also reported on it for the BBC.
In the US Intrewest runs Winter Park, Copper Mountain, and Steamboat Ski & Resort in Colorado, Stratton in Vermont, Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia and Mountain Creek in New Jersey.
The company itself has been in financial trouble and has recently sold its stakes in European resorts so the new ruling will not have a direct impact in Europe.
However resorts in Europe and North America will be watching the move closely to see how it affects accident statistics.
It will be one of the first widespread moves to introduce helmets so scientific comparisons can be made about the level of injuries of more people wearing helmets and therefore what difference they make.
Does wearing a helmet prevent injury?Many figures are bandied about but few scientific studies have been conducted. Common sense seeks to say it is advisable to wear one but not everyone agrees.
The death of Natasha Richardson and various other high profile accidents, including a woman who died after she was in collision with a German politician, caused many people last winter to take up wearing a helmet.
Some areas introduced new rules and there was a surge in helmet sales with shops running out.
However, it by no means certain that wearing a helmet would have saved her life as some reports at the time said.
Last winter we interviewed the British skier, Mervyn Fletcher, who has just taken up wearing a helmet for the first time. See the video interview below.
So, what are the pros and cons of wearing a helmet?
The Mountain guide, Nick Parks, explains here why he now wears head protection while the BASI Trainer, Rupert Goldring, prefers to ski without one.
The chief executive of Intrawest, Bill Jenson, is reported to be working with the National Ski Areas Association and the Canada West Ski Areas Association to establish best safety practices and undergoing a review of wearing helmets.
He says Intrawest will work "to raise awareness of this important initiative and the obligation of everyone to ski and ride in a controlled and responsible manner."
Intrawest has not gone as far as Vail with regard to its own staff. Vail Resorts Ltd. says all its employees must wear helmets when out on the mountains in work hours this winter.
Don't forget to check out the latest blog from our content editor, James Cove, about off piste safety which has also appeared as part of his regular column for 'In the Snow' magazine.
Should helmets be made compulsory for everyone?PlanetSKI reserves the right to edit any comments. In most cases a selection of your comments will be published, displaying your name and location unless you state otherwise in the box below.
I wear a helmet and I guess it’ll be an ongoing topic for debate this winter. I ended up wearing one partly to make it easier to get my son to wear one. I was quite pleased when he got interested in buying his own – but became alarmed when the only ones that really excited him were ones with built-in earphones that you could plug your iPod straight into. Not sure what that does for your overall concentration and safety levels!
James Bedding, London
Look i reckon it is a great idea to wear a helmet but please, please, please can we be allowed to make up our own minds without being forced into it. the helmet manufacturers must be licking their lips at the prospect of all that extra money and the resorts probably want to cover themselves so they don't get sued. It is america after all where everyone seems to sue everyone. Most kids seem to wear a helmet anyway as far as i can make out. Nanny state!!
Adrian Small, Plymouth
You don't see Bode Miller or Erica Vonn on the slopes without one! So it must be a good idea to wear a helmet.
Oliver Smihfiled,
I have 3 kids and as young children there is no way any of them were allowed to go out into the snow to ski or tobogganing without wearing a helmet. Its something they've always done and now years on at the ages of 19, 17 and 16 its part of their routine - they grab their gloves and helmet as a matter of course. I started wearing one a couple of years ago and feel distinctly vulnerable without it. If it was put to a vote to make helmets compulsory mine would be a big YES!
Jane Russholme, London
YES ... if you want to live!
Jill Samuels, Bristol
I believe that we should all have the choice to wear a helmet.
I participate in a wide variety of disciplines on snow, from racing on the Telemark World Cup circuit to spending days in the backcountry, and I really think it boils down to personal judgement whether or not to wear a helmet from one day to the next. Of course there is an element of experience and skill involved in making the decision this is why I think beginners should be encouraged to wear helmets as they may understand fully the potential risks involved.
Generally speaking I always wear a helmet and have been grateful, when on the odd occasion my head does take a bit of a knock. Still we must be sensible and allow people to make these decisions for themselves.
Jack Harvard Taylor, Chamonix
It's pretty simple in my view. If you are involved in an accident on the slope, either your own fault or someone crashing into you, then would you rather have a helmet on or not? They are light, comfortable and relatively inexpensive. It doesn't need a great scientific survey with months of research - it's a no-brainer.
John Georgeson, Val d'Isere
There is no doubt that helmets are sensible protection for children. However, it is personal responsibility that is at the heart of the debate. Many people ski beyond their capabilities, poor technique, bad choice of terrain and way too fast! Slope operators also have a responsibility to ensure that slopes are properly and sensitively patrolled. In my experience putting children in protective equipment can instil in them a sense of bravado. I cite Rugby as an example, skull caps, padded shoulders and even padded forearm guards made the children I coached behave differently and dangerously as they were encouraged by their "protection". Without it they avoided contact, with it, they encouraged contact beyond that which their frames could withstand. In skiing, racers go fast and wear Helmets, we must avoid children believing that Helmets will protect them if they go fast. Many adolescents can be seen in ski resorts around the world behaving (as they do because of their age) without due care and attention. They are of course invincible. Have they been taught the responsibility needed to play their chosen sport? They also drive too fast emulating their hero's in Formula 1. Improving safety features in cars has done nothing to stop that! Of, course adolescents should not be singled out as the only people skiing without caution but they are a lighthouse for where the problem should be tackled - in childhood. I have skied for 35 years and have 4 children. We all ski fast and in control none of us has sustained any major injuries. one girl wears a helmet out of choice, she ski's faster then the others (and me now dammit!) I am a ski instructor and would like to find a way of ensuring that everyone who skis does so with due care and attention for others just like I used to expect my children and many thousands I have taught (including those child rugby players) to behave. I think it is through coaching that the answer lies. Fun, enjoyable and challenging coaching, stretching children to appropriate limits in controlled conditions till they develop the skills and appreciation of risk need to ski in crowded ski resorts. Good Instructors are good coaches but must move away from the sort of structured "lessons" that children detest where they are standing in line, getting 1/12th of the instructors time, (which amounts to a maximum of 5 minutes per child at best and less if the class is moving!)and appearing to only be in a creche. Parents need to protect their children with education not only helmets.
Jim Durie, Scotland
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