Helmets and Sport climbing

[spantik]

The girl friend of a good friend of mine was killed by a head injury sustained in a fall on a sport climb. I also witnessed the fatal accident at Chek this spring. In that case the helmet made little difference to the outcome but if the circumstances of the fall had been different the helmet could have made a big difference. I guess my point is, even if you get away with something 10 or 20 times, it's a roll of the dice each time and the next roll may come up snake eyes.

I agree it's a personal choice but I personally choose to wear a helmet almost every time I tie in. I don't see any reason to draw a distinction b/t sport and gear climbing. Though I do occassionally forget my helmet or leave it in the pack for no particularly good reason.

[rich k]

when you decide to wear a helmet, you might want to consider the false sense of security that the helmet creates as well. it's interesting to note that of the major concussions that i've had,... what was i talking about again... all of them have occurred when i was wearing a helmet. these weren't climbing-related incidences, but it relates to the discussion because, for me, the mentality is the same. i put myself into more dangerous situations , accept greater risks, and create more injuries with a helmet on, and for those reasons, don't wear one.

ok, mom, feel free to reply and rip that one apart...

[mcgarnickle]

when you decide to wear a helmet, you might want to consider the false sense of security that the helmet creates as well.

Helmets do not give a "false" sense of security. When you are wearing one, and a egg sized rock hits your head, it will be alot different than if you do not wear one. It is like claiming that you place protection on a route for that false sense of security it provides, and you may as well solo the route because it will in fact be safer since you know a fall will kill you.

[rich k]

actually, the helmet still gives you a false sense of security. you won't do a certain climb unless you're wearing it. so you wear it to prevent your head from getting hit by a rock, now you feel safer and will do the climb, you go into an area where you can get hit by a rock, only your head is protected, an egg-sized rock falls from 200 feet above you, misses your head and breaks your shoulder, and you die from major trauma. you have accepted risks that you would not otherwise have accepted.

just for fun, i'll argue that soloing a route is safer than placing gear (disclaimer: i don't solo, and am not recommending that you do): how many soloist accidents do you hear about? how many non-soloist accidents do you hear about, i can think of 2 fatalities last year. i can't remember the last time i've heard of a soloist accident. they don't put themselves in situations where any 'securities' could be false, they have a true sense of 'insecurity'.

[mcgarnickle]

you're right, and I admit I totally put my foot into my mouth with that previous post, tho I did it out of boredom...
I have broken my leg in a lead fall, and nearly died in bad rockfall while climbing, but I have soloed Crime of the Century up and down and well over hundred other routes from the gunks to yosemite, and never got even a scratch doing it. But, I can't seem to convince anyone that soloing is in any way safe. Go figure.

[rich k]

ya, i've been skiing and snowboarding all my life, had the 3 head injuries, 2 dislocated shoulders and fractured heals, all the injuries on snow i've had, with the helmet on. have broken my wrist and got another concussion mountain biking, with the helmet on. got bad road rash from crashing my road bike at 50km/hr, with helmet on. i've gotten a girl... oops, wrong forum.

without a helmet, i've sprained an ankle golfing. it doesn't quite add up...

[Brendan]

...I have soloed Crime of the Century up and down...

he sure did... soloed up, chilled out for a while, then soloed down!! lol...

[spantik]

actually, the helmet still gives you a false sense of security. you won't do a certain climb unless you're wearing it. so you wear it to prevent your head from getting hit by a rock, now you feel safer and will do the climb, you go into an area where you can get hit by a rock, only your head is protected, an egg-sized rock falls from 200 feet above you, misses your head and breaks your shoulder, and you die from major trauma. you have accepted risks that you would not otherwise have accepted.

The inital post was asking about wearing helmets while sport climbing. The fatalities I referred to were on well bolted 5.9s.

-Mom

[rich k]

[quote="spantik"]
The inital post was asking about wearing helmets while sport climbing. The fatalities I referred to were on well bolted 5.9s.

-Mom[/quote]

read the thread. my first post was on topic and not quoting your post, and my second post replied to an off-topic reply of my on-topic post.

it's also interesting to note that although you're trying to argue against what i'm saying, what you've said in your post actually agrees with it (the rolling the dice comment and the non-head-injury-related fatality supports my argument that greater risks are accepted with helmets on, and helmet gives a false sense of security).

thanks mom. until next time...

[pitted_date]

Perhaps the severity of your many concussions would've been greater if the helmet wasn't there? You can look at the incident from the point of view that, "Hey, I still got a concussion. These things don't work." Try looking at it from the perspective of, "Hey, I can still think, walk, talk, and climb. What luck, I could be worse off!"

Now, put a neurosurgeon on this chat line and I'm sure they'd be strong advocates for a brain bucket. They see the head injuries every day and the patients' families who then have to deal with looking after someone who is no longer functioning at the same level that they once did. Just realize that your actions affect more people than you would think.

Hey, even Alex Huber wore a helmet when he soloed the 12a in the Dolomites just in case there was some rockfall...I guess he hoped he could deflect everything off the head and the impact wouldn't push him off. Yeah, well, soloing vs helmets vs funny things people do for magazines.

Helmets are rather nice, especially when you hear the sharp "pock" from a stone bouncing off of it. Last I heard, gravity still was working and there are rocks that fall at all areas, even sport areas.