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MARKETING | Noah Brier

Wearing a Helmet

Some random thoughts on snow helmets . . .

January 13, 2008 | RSS | EMAIL | PRINT | 8 COMMENTS

Yesterday I went snowbaording up at Hunter Mountain. Beyond learning an important lesson about snowbaording on ice (which has left me bruised, battered and slightly numb), I was amazed by the number of helmets I saw. Now Hunter is a bit of an exception in that they give free helmets with rentals, but I would guess about 90 percent of people on the mountain had them. Got me thinking about a few things that I'm not sure all amount to anything, but I felt like sharing anyway.

  • First off, I was never much of a skiier, but I did go a few times as a kid. I don't remember seeing any helmets really and don't think I'd even heard of them until Michael Kennedy died skiing in 1997. It's pretty amazing to me that in the 10 years since then, helmets have made such a move into the market.
  • Even if you're a mountain that lets people borrow helmets for free, there's still no guarantee the majority of people will take them. Helmets are, or at least were, a classic "uncool" product. The interesting thing about uncool products, however, is that if everyone uses them they all of a sudden become cool (or at least accepted). This, to me, seems like the case of helmets on the slopes. If you see enough people with helmets on the slopes all the social pressures of being cool diminish and all of a sudden another peer pressure (towards safety) develops.
  • Ski helmets look pretty cool (I think). Much cooler than bike helmets. Plus they eliminate the need to wear a hat (which is nice).
  • Mountains are in a great position to encourage helmets because of the importance of lessons. Most (if not all) kids that learn to ski take ski lessons at some point. If a mountain requires its instructors to wear helmets, it sets a good example for the kids and I imagine would significantly speed up the adoption. (This happens with parents all the time when the set a good example for their kids by wearing helmets, cleaning up after themselves or whatever else they do.)
  • Apparently 15% to 24% of skiiers and snowboarders wear helmets.

Anyway, like I said, I'm not exactly sure where this was meant to go except to say it's an interesting case study in adoption of safety gear.

Back to icing my wounds now . . .

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COMMENTS

1Andy

I feel like wearing a helmet for boarding is 'cool' because it's a sign of how good you are (sorta). "no helmet? must be a beginner."
a different world to the stick you'd get as a kid for wearing a helmet while "dangerously" cycling to the end of your drive.

January 13, 2008

2Noah Brier

That's a good point Andy, wonder why that happened . . . Think it had anything to do with the fact the sport was televised from the very beginning (by X Games and such)?

January 14, 2008

3Andy

i don't know too much about the culture of it. But it's common sense that when something can be truly dangerous, the more geared up you are, the more you look like you're a crazy mf that throws him/herself down mountains.
From personal experience, boarders tend to buy a helmet after about 3 or 4 holidays - when they realise it's a different game at high speeds on black runs...

January 14, 2008

4wes

this wins most random post of the year so war haha, love it

January 14, 2008

5Tim

The first day riding with my new helmet I took an fall that included a nice "thwack" of my head on ice.

I've never second guessed a purchase less.

January 14, 2008

6Rob

Ditto Tim. After like 4 years of riding, the first day I wore a helmet my head took a beating. Does this mean helmets hurt people.

January 15, 2008

7Ben in Atlanta

I think logically more snowboarders wear helmets because it's so easy to catch an edge when riding. And there's no delicate fall...u catch an edge and you're down...hard. So there's a true risk - and helmets are "cool" because even the badasses know how easy it is to catch an edge and land on your noggin.

In reality, you should worry more about your wrists...which you'll use to catch yourself so you won't hit your head.

January 17, 2008

8Sarah Winters Papsun

Helmets are something that are a "no brainer" now a days. It's common sense now in the times of X Games, Snowboarding as an Olympic Event and all sports becoming more extreme! Sports celebrities like Shawn White and Tony Halk wouldn't be caught without one! (Imagine any sport role models not wearing one…football, baseball, hockey and even NASCAR)

If you do not have your small children wearing bike, and rollerblade helmets, in most states it's against the law… so of course that would transition the helmet use on the slopes as a social norm at a young age.

I went snowboarding two weeks ago in Vermont, and bought my 20 something brother his first helmet. He's a great snowboarder, but I did it as a defensive gift, as this season alone I have seen more snowboards and skiers taken off the mountain in sleds or airlifted by helicopter to hospital. People wear a helmet like they wear a seat belt, for defense, against other peoples moves on the road or mountain. When given the choice why not protect the most important thing you have your brain?

February 6, 2008