dydski

Ski Patroller here. Been patrolling for about 5 years now. My dad was a Patroller for 30 years. He was first on scene of an accident where the kid was paralyzed from the neck down. He attempted a feature in the terrain park and landed on his head. The kid was actually the son of another patroller.

As a patroller we train extensively for spinal chord injuries. C-Spine stabilization is huge. Obviously the protocols are different in Switzerland but how would you rate the care you received on scene?

God, volunteered to sit for my drawing class (clothed) to get out of a sketch that day.

What a difference a comma makes

In my 5 years of patrolling I have seen multiple (probably 10 or more) that would have been less serious had the person been wearing a helmet. I was on scene of 3 last year alone where there were serious head injuries. None were wearing helmets. 2 have fully recovered and 1 is still recovering almost a year later. I can't stress how important a helmet is.

You are on 2 projectiles (skis) and are travelling down a slippery surface at, often, high rates of speed. You are also doing this with hundreds of other people at the same time who, like you, may have no experience on how to control themselves or stop. A helmet is the only protection you have from the ground, fences, other skiers.

If you really want to see the importance of helmets, watch this video

Regarding your friend, I can't say whether or not a helmet would have benefited him but I can assure you it would not have made it worse. I can't think of any reason NOT to wear a helmet.

Glad to hear that the care was great. One of the biggest things we are trained for is not to fix the problem because obviously what's done is done but to prevent further injury. It sounds like they did everything right.

Great! You won't be disappointed and your brain will thank you. Check out Giro helmets. They are a good brand and relatively inexpensive if you take into consideration what they are protecting ;). You can get a good one for about $100 USD.

If you don't want to buy one, you can rent them from ski resorts. Usually it's about $15 / day to rent and they are good quality helmets. That's a good option if you are only going to be going once or twice per season.