Helmets have come a long way since Harkin Banks skated up to the top of Grand Chief Cornice donning a full face mask motorcycle helmet on his noggin. Nowadays, ski and snowboard companies are employing top-notch engineering and research to create state of the art brain buckets that are not only slick-looking but massively more effective at protecting heads against traumatic injury. Turns out, that trend is translating into more people wearing helmets each year reports the National Ski Areas Association.
Actually, 78% of all skiers and snowboarders are wearing helmets.
NSAA president, Michael Berry is stoked on that number, which is a dramatic improvement since 2002. In 2002, only 25% of skiers and riders found helmets as “acceptable” headwear for winter sports. Berry credited the efforts of individual ski areas saying, “Ski areas have done an incredible job of encouraging helmet use, and it shows in the dramatic growth we seen in the span since NSAA began tracking helmet usage.”  Berry went on to mention how that voluntary use without intervention by state governments is “quite impressive.”
There are only two ski areas in the USA that require all skiers and riders under the age of 18 to wear a helmet. Both ski areas are located in New Jersey.
However, has the increased acceptance of helmets affected the rise of head injuries in a sport infamous for ski-related head injuries that claimed the life of Sonny Bono? Contradictory to prior reports, the NSAA is claiming that significant head injuries has decreased due to advent of popularized helmet use.
In their study, they found that “while helmet usage increased in the last ten years, there was a dramatic improvement in the decline of potentially serious head injuries, particularly in concussions.”
The study concluded that if utilized correctly, helmets can reduce the chance of head injury by 30-50%!
Find more information about head injuries and helmet use here: National Ski Areas Association
