The Ski Life Blog

Should you wear a helmet when skiing?

The topic can be a contentious clash between safety and freedom. Like some other arguments I can think of, often nothing is resolved and no one changes their mind.

Recent discussion reminded me of my own experience. I first started wearing a helmet after the big Valentine’s Day Storm of 2007. The snowpack was especially deep at Gore and I was skiing the trees full time.  It got me thinking.

My wife and I went into the old Mountain and Bordertown in North Creek. (Who remembers?!) We checked out two models, one was $60 the other was $110.  We asked: “what’s the difference between the two helmets?”

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What makes a good ski partner?

My admittedly sarcastic answer is that I’d like to ski with a clone of myself; someone that’s as good or maybe just a little faster then I am.

I’ve done some informal research on this, reaching out to other skiers. Some people come back with “my kids” or “my family.” I’m sure those folks are sincere. Skiing with my kids is one of the great joys in my life and they’re getting better. Every time we go out, they are a little bit closer to achieving perfect ski buddy status. They should be, I’ve been brainwashing them since the age of three.

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I recently wrote a blog post to draw attention to the Northeast Face Shield Project. The idea is to raise funds and use it to produce a modest quantity of facial protection for healthcare workers in our region. While government is trying to bail us out of this mess, we wanted to do some bailing too.

There are all kinds of ways to help America. Stay at home. Help older people with their shopping. Shop without hoarding. Work out payment terms. Call your mom. Just being nice to people is a way to help. I wrote that post because it was something I could do.

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