Is It Important To Wear Ski Helmets?

The debate regarding whether or not to wear ski helmets during skiing has been going over many years. However, the sad death of actress Natasha Richardson last year has brought this subject in the public's attention.

There has always been conflicting opinions regarding the effectiveness of helmets during skiing. Would the actress Natasha Richardson still be alive if she was wearing a helmet? There is no certain answer to that question, but clearly a helmet can protect your head from injuries in case of a head collision as compared to the situation when a helmet was not being worn.

A vast majority of skiers do not wear helmets and this has been the case from several decades. Although downhill skiers have been wearing helmets for many years, it is only recently that skiers in other disciplines have also started wearing helmets. This adaptation of helmets being in 1980 when protection companies started to manufacture lighter helmets and professional skiers started to wear them more frequently.

The importance of a helmet is gradually being recognized by people and now it is mandatory to wear helmets in a professional ski competition. Similar to many other sports, skiing is also associated with a certain amount of risk.

However, this risk can easily be rationalized by using ski helmets. The big question of whether to wear a ski helmets or not comes down to choice and education. Many skiers prefer to calculate the risk involved in a particular form of skiing and choose accordingly. Ski Racing, Off Piste Skiing, and high-speed skiing are some of the situations where most people prefer to wear a helmet.

On the other hand many people avoid wearing a ski helmet when they are skiing with recreational skiers just for fun. Now, some people may think it is irrational not to wear helmet during recreational skiing as other person may still collide with you. But that is the risk that you have taken with your own consent. Some professional resorts have now made it compulsory for children to wear this.

This is a great move considering the fact that children's head are less developed as compared to an adult and any injury can be severe. Also, children do not understand the intricacies of the sport and are likely to fall more often and collide with objects and other skiers. Once a child grows up, it will be his personal choice whether he want to wear a this or not? However, a child is habitual of wearing ski helmets, it will become more natural that he continues to wear them as an adult and you can thus find a significant rise in the number of people wearing ski helmets.


The debate regarding whether or not to wear ski helmets during skiing has been going over many years. However, the sad death of actress Natasha Richardson last year has brought this subject in the public's attention.