Helmet

From Niftytricks

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Skiing/Snowboarding Helmet

Other wise known as: Brain Bucket, Skid Lid

The snowboarding helmet is a lightweight helmet that is designed to protect a snowboarder's head from all sorts of impact that is possible while riding, including incidents with: trees and branches, rocks, other boarders, hard packed snow and ice, and even your own knee (usually the most painful).

The ski/snowboard helmet is typically made of a stiff closed cell foam (so it can't get water logged with sweat and then stink horribly for ever after) to absorb most of the impact, a hard outer shell (to keep sharp branches from puncturing your noggin) and softer type of padding used to make the helmet fit comfortably and also absorb some of the impact.

Snowboard helmets are different from skateboarding helmets, hockey helmets and Moto helmets believe it or not even though you will probably see people using anything they can for a helmet it is usually a good idea to get a helmet specifically for skiing/snowboarding.

Skateboard helmets are typically open cell foam and usually don't have the full head coverage. Hockey helmets don't have an easy way to secure your goggles and Moto helmets are way to heavy to ride comfortably with.

Helmets come in some different styles with varying degrees of protection, ventilation and other accessories. The typical helmet should cover your ears and back of your head. Full face helmets are typically used for Boardercross racing as well as slalom events, these look similar to their MotoX cousins.

Depending on where you normally ride and how your ride ventilation will play in a lot on helmet comfort. Some helmets have vents that can open and close allow you to keep your head from sweating.

Visors are gaining popularity and are nice for cutting down glare and to reduce the wind in your face on those really windy days. If your current helmet doesn’t have a visor and you want one then get one. There are a bunch of easily attached visors available.

A lot of new helmets even include stereo capabilities with makes riding and listening to music a lot more comfortable and easier.

Fit

A good helmet fit will allow not cause a headache after an hour. The helmet needs to be loose enough to be comfortable but not so loose that it will fall down over your eyes. Make sure to wear your helmet for a while after buying it to make sure it doesn't put pressure on some weird spot on your head.

Most helmets will keep your head pretty warm but on those really cold days a thin beanie is recommended, so if the helmet is not particularly warm looking or has lots of vents then try fitting it with a very thin beanie.

The chinstrap is usually very adjustable so making the fit under the neck is pretty easy to do. Keep that chinstrap from choking you but don’t let it get too loose that in a good tumble you will loose your skidlid.

The fit between your goggles and helmet is also critical. Having a very thin strip on your forehead that is not protect by either your goggles or helmet is not only painful, especially when you are hauling, but it also looks real funny because your face will have a very noticeable horizontal red line across it.

Although ski/snowboard helmets are typically not required I personally strongly recommend wearing one. It takes a little bit at first to get used to having a little extra weight on your head but the extra insurance is well worth it. I can personally say that if I weren’t wearing my helmet that one crazy night we were out jibbing I probably wouldn’t be writing this now.