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Thread: Helmets

  1. #1

    Helmets

    Why is it that the canyoneering community pushes to wear helmets. But you very seldom see any climbers wearing helmets. I was down to moab last weekend and my son and his buddy wanted to go down to wall street and climb for a little bit. (After 2 awesome canyoneering routes. Moab rocks.) Wallstreet was busy and there wasn't one person wearing a helmet. So then not thinking I let my son and his buddy climb without a helmet, but earlier in the day when canyoneering they wear their helmets on each rappel. I understand why canyoneers wear helmets but whats up with climbers?
    Are climbers just cooler or are their heads harder? Seems like if your leading and fall that could get interesting?
    Mark
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  3. #2
    I always wore my helmet when climbing, but I think that is cause I always did big walls and the big wall culture is a bit more helmet prone.
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  4. #3
    Depends on the climbers. My friends and I usually wear helmets while climbing. Some people have different tolerance for risk. The type of rock you are climbing on makes a bit of difference (how much loose, probability of breaking off, etc.) However, if you climb aggressively, there's always the chance that you knock your head on a fall. Don't forget about folks above if it's a popular place too...

  5. #4

  6. #5

    Re: Helmets

    Quote Originally Posted by moab mark
    Why is it that the canyoneering community pushes to wear helmets. But you very seldom see any climbers wearing helmets.
    Mostly has to do with the difference in the communities, maybe. A theory proposed is that climbers and their community tend to think for themselves and accept their risks individually, while canyoneers are more likely to be "led" like sheep or lemmings.

    Ha ha.

    -Brian in SLC

  7. #6
    I always wear my helmet when climbing. I'm a beginner but I don't see that ever changing.
    The man thong is wrong.

  8. #7
    Depends on whether you've smacked your head hard, or thought about the consequences of doing so--if so, you believe in helmets.

    Lot of climbers seem to start out in the gym or well used popular routes with little or no loose debris. Several of my friends have climbed for nearly 10 years withouth helmets. But those same friends started caving with me and quickly switched over. I was pushing them to climb and check out holes in new areas, where they were knocking stuff loose, etc. They were all about helmets at that point. (Occasionally standing up too quick in the wrong spot in a cave will make you a believer as well. ) They also shifted more into big wall climbing than sport/bouldering.

  9. #8
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    Re: Helmets

    Quote Originally Posted by Brian in SLC
    Quote Originally Posted by moab mark
    Why is it that the canyoneering community pushes to wear helmets. But you very seldom see any climbers wearing helmets.
    Mostly has to do with the difference in the communities, maybe. A theory proposed is that climbers and their community tend to think for themselves and accept their risks individually, while canyoneers are more likely to be "led" like sheep or lemmings. Ha ha.

    -Brian in SLC
    Or the other way around - climbers are really concerned about being "cool", and helmets are not cool. Canyoneers...

    But more seriously -

    In the climbing community, except ice climbing and in loose rock areas (=mountaineering), helmets are a sign of beginners (who are NOT cool) and the culture is that climbers do not generally wear helmets when rock climbing. One can make the case that they are generally unnecessary - the number of accidents at normal crags involving head injuries (that would be saved by wearing a helmet) are small.

    Climbing is also done in a "social setting" - generally there are other people at the crag, and you want to look "cool" to them even if you don't know them and will never see them again. Not-wearing helmets is an entrenched part of the culture.

    In the canyoneering community - well, that's us. A large percentage of the overall canyoneering community has been influenced by "us" - meaning, Tom, Shane, Bo, Tanya, Ram and Lord Voldemort. Ram and I, at least, decided early on we would make wearing helmets "cool", and I think we have largely succeeded. Wearing a helmet is now an entrenched part of the culture, and NOT wearing a helmet is a sign of cluelessness and beginnerhood. It does require constant vigilance on my part, shaming posters, especially Bogleyites, when pictures show up of nude noggings

    Bogleyites are, of course, the last pocket of resistance. While many fall into line, there are those who refuse to be assimilated.

    Skiing and Boarding - wearing helmets is now cool, many people do it, especially the hard core (I'm thinking). If you are unconvinced hard-core skiers need helmets, check this out:

    [quote=Jackson Hole News and Guide]
    Patroller in critical condition after fall
    By Angus M. Thuermer Jr., Jackson Hole, Wyo.
    March 16, 2009


    Friends and family of Jackson Hole ski patroller and alpinist Kathryn Miller are praying for her recovery following a ski accident Friday that left her in critical condition.

    Miller, well-known by her former, married name Hess, fell in Spacewalk Couloir just south of the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort boundary, resort spokeswoman Anna Olson said. She was on a backcountry patrol with colleague Kevin Maloney when the accident occurred, Olson said.

    Olson gave the following account.

    The two were negotiating the narrow, steep and rocky descent into Rock Springs Canyon at 11 a.m. when the accident happened. Miller was held up at a rocky crux in the gully, then fell while attempting to ski past.

    She tumbled down the rest of the chute, suffering serious injuries along the way. Maloney immediately called for assistance.

    Ski patrol came to her aid, as did a physician from the Teton Village Clinic. The team moved Miller into a toboggan and slid her down Rock Springs Canyon to the resort base and clinic.

    Medical personnel stabilized her there and loaded her into an air ambulance at 12:46 p.m. The ship flew her to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, where she remained in a coma in critical condition Sunday evening.

    On the Caring Bridge Web site, an Internet portal where friends and family share news of those in peril, relatives have posted updates of Miller

  10. #9
    Although I lost all coolness sometime in the 80's, I wear a helmet. I am just glad I am cool in the canyoneering community. No really.... "Cool in the canyoneering community".... I just can't say that with a straight face. Poultry in motion (wearing a helmet) is more accurate to describe my status in the canyoneering community.

    But seriously, I tend to stand up too soon after crawling under some boulder or I am not watching what is above me because I am checking out footing and then I smack my noggin on something. Makes sense for me.
    Life is Good

  11. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Scott Card
    Although I lost all coolness sometime in the 80's,
    I know the feeling... one day you are driving down the road in a Corvette, t-tops out, hair blowing in the wind, Led Zeppelin cranked on the stereo, balancing a beer between your knees....

    Then suddenly..... POOOOFFFFF!!!!

    You wake up.... married, two kids, a dog, a mortgage.... and scariest of all.... driving a mini van.



    I was told you can tell the best year of a man's life by the way he dresses.... a man freezes his wardrobe at the peek of his coolness....


  12. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Iceaxe
    Quote Originally Posted by Scott Card
    Although I lost all coolness sometime in the 80's,
    I know the feeling... one day you are driving down the road in a Corvette, t-tops out, hair blowing in the wind, Led Zeppelin cranked on the stereo, balancing a beer between your knees....

    Then suddenly..... POOOOFFFFF!!!!

    You wake up.... married, two kids, a dog, a mortgage.... and scariest of all.... driving a mini van.



    I was told you can tell the best year of a man's life by the way he dresses.... a man freezes his wardrobe at the peek of his coolness....

    So true. As to the wardrobe, Levis and t-shirt. That is all I wore in the 70's and 80's. Still standard on weekends and evenings for me. Oh and a flight jacket look when it is cold. I did change that since I couldn't afford leather back then, I now have a leather flight jacket. I wonder if the emo look would suit me?
    Life is Good

  13. #12
    A lot of climbers go shirtless too, and helmets do NOT look cool if you're showing off your chiseled deltoids.

    Tom's right, it's all about looking cool. Now if they could get some sponsor stickers on the helmets, that'd be another story.

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  14. #13

  15. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Iceaxe
    I was told you can tell the best year of a man's life by the way he dresses.... a man freezes his wardrobe at the peek of his coolness....
    does this mean thats its time to ditch the neru jacket and throw out my shirts with the bell sleeves? what about my platform shoes? not those.

    and as far as my helmet use is concerned. it has nothing to do with coolness. i have never worried if i am cool or not. just not a herd or flock kinda of follower. its just a matter of personal choice. i always wear mine on my motorcycle and when caving. sometimes not when i ice climb (depends on if i am leading and the route). rarely if climbing or in canyons or cycling. all depends on how i assess the hazards.

    helmets are mandatory on bicycles here in new zealand. i saw a study done in 1996 by the british which stated that 12 times as many lives could be saved by making helmets mandatory for pedestrians and motorists. go figure. who is going to be the first cool person driving dads car to pick up their prom date wearing a helmet? heres a old 1998 article. http://www.magma.ca/~ocbc/nigel.html
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  16. #15
    I wear my helmet quite often while climbing, nearly always when canyoneering.

    I was climbing "Lite not Solid" in the Swell last weekend, though, and in all the off-width pods it kept getting in the way. Jamming. Very annoying.

    I would agree that beginning climbers are likely to be caught wearing helmets ... so are experienced climbers. It's the ones in the middle who don't seem to see the need.

    Also, Wall Street on Potash road is not the greatest place to get a sample of climbers. I would venture to say that most "experienced" climbers don't care much for the dump trucks roaring by and all the coloRADins blaring their car stereos.

    And of course, flickr is down when I try to post photos. I'll try again later.
    It's my job to call the BS around here. Get over it.

  17. #16
    In this photo I have a helmet on ... just not a very attentive belayer:



    I actually took about a 20 foot whipper on a red TCU on this climb. Loads of fun.
    It's my job to call the BS around here. Get over it.

  18. #17
    In the circle of canyoneers that we generally explore canyons with, the philosophy is keep yourself safe for the group. If you get hurt, the group needs to do the rescue. As such, we wear helmets as much for the group as for self protection.

  19. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by davehuth
    In the circle of canyoneers that we generally explore canyons with, the philosophy is keep yourself safe for the group. If you get hurt, the group needs to do the rescue. As such, we wear helmets as much for the group as for self protection.
    An excellent way of looking at it - thanks.

  20. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by davehuth
    In the circle of canyoneers that we generally explore canyons with, the philosophy is keep yourself safe for the group. If you get hurt, the group needs to do the rescue.
    When my partners see someone doing something they consider risky they always joke.... "I'll go get help, but I'm not going to carry your fat ass out of here".


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