Long piece from the August issue of Climbing about why so few climbers wear helmets:
When it comes to helmets and climbers, inconsistency is everywhere. Most ice climbers and mountaineers wear helmets, as do many traditional rock climbers. But far fewer rock climbers don lids for short climbs, especially sport routes.
See also this piece on The Stone Mind about the dangers of sport climbing without a helmet and this piece on Mountains & Water about how wearing a helmet while bouldering might make more sense than you’d think.
Why don’t people wear helmets while driving cars?
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because you only need a helmet if you are gonna get f**ked up.
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“Why don’t people wear helmets while driving cars?”
Because most newer cars have an incredible amount of safety features built-in to keep the occupants safe. My head doesn’t have airbags built-in so a helmet makes great sense.
“because you only need a helmet if you are gonna get f**ked up.”
Most don’t know when they’re going to Fed up. It just happens. Even in sport climbing on overhanging terrain something out of the climber’s control can happen.
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But people still suffer head injuries and die in car crashes all the time. And what about people with older cars without modern airbag systems? Surely it’s better to just wear a helmet and be as safe as possible, right?
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Hey, this is ‘Murica! Which means you’re free to climb without a helmet, a rope, or even pants (in some states)! However, consider this:
Since cars are basically protective cases for their occupants, and modern cars especially are full of airbags and seat belts and other safety features built in at great expense, one can conclude that helmets just don’t add much to your safety while driving.
Now imagine a car without any built-in safety measures for the driver. A very old car with lap belts, no anti-lock brakes, no airbags, etc. I would suggest that in that case, a helmet might actually be a good idea, as even a fender bender would likely have you whacking your skull on the steel steering wheel.
An even better example of a fairly well protectionless vehicle would be a motorcycle. And you may have noticed that most motorcyclists DO wear helmets. In many states they are legally required to do so, so great is the protective value of a helmet to an exposed person moving at high speeds in close proximity to other, bigger vehicles.
In closing, I would argue that climbing is much more like motorcycling than driving a modern car, in that wearing a helmet significantly increases the wearer’s safety, while the burden of wearing one remains, by all measures, minor.
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I was originally told that traditional climbing helmets aren’t too keep you from hitting things, they are to keep stuff from falling on you. Trad, ice, and mountaineering stuff comes unglued and tumbling down more often than anyone likes, so a traditional suspended helmet makes sense, especially for belayers. For sport and bouldering, I’d image the guy on the sharp end would prefer something closer to a skateboard helmet – tight fit, plenty of foam to disperse an impact from any direction.
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I seem to remeber Kevin Jorgeson wearing some kind of helmet on some of his harder boulders / solo’s (?)
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I confess I may be hopelessly ignorant on this topic but other than anecdotal reports like those in the Stone Mind article you link to is there any evidence that wearing a helmet in sport climbing actually has any affect one way or another? If all we are doing is swapping anecdotes let me tell the story about the time I was a first responder on a trad climbing accident where the climber was wearing a helmet but the fall involved a side impact to the head and the helmet appeared to provide no protection, the climber was knocked unconscious and had multiple lacerations to the head in areas not covered by the helmet. I’m not anti-helmet at all, honestly the idea of wearing a helmet seems pretty sensible, I just want to know that we are basing our choices on meaningful information and not speculation. Dougald does mention studies showing a 4 – 8% rate of head injuries among climbers but doesn’t cite a reference for that number and then goes on to say that the real number is probably higher, based on his speculation.
There is a lot we can speculate about in climbing safety, myself, in 30+ years of climbing I’ve never seen a head injury to a climber not wearing a helmet but in the past 10 years I’ve seen dozens of sprained / broken ankles (including an ugly compound fracture a few weeks back!) all of them in gyms. Thus from an individual, anecdotal perspective I am lead to believe that ankle injuries are a far bigger problem in climbing than head injuries. The problem with Anecdotal evidence is its hard to know what it is telling us. If the point is just that helmets might be safer, than the implied meaning of Dan’s comment seems right, we should all be wearing helmets while driving.
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I think the part of the article that mentions helmet design addresses some of your questions. If climbing helmets were designed to protect the head from blows to the side and back of the head, not just falling rocks, they would be much more useful. I would compare it to statistics on bicycle helmets. Obviously wearing a bike helmet is successful in lowering the risk of injury or death from a blow to the head, why wouldn’t a purpose-designed sport climbing helmet also reduce risk?
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“I am lead to believe that ankle injuries are a far bigger problem in climbing than head injuries.”
I think it makes more sense to call ankle injuries a more common problem, but not a bigger one. Certainly there are many more lower extremity injuries in gyms (mostly due to padding issues and a lot of beginners who don’t know how to fall). But a head injury, when it does occur (much more likely out on the rocks, of course), is definitely the bigger problem.
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If you think wearing a helmet is pointless then maybe you have nothing for the helmet to protect anyway 😛
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Reading the comments, I don’t see anyone claiming that wearing a helmet is pointless.
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Dan – the reduction to the absurd can be a useful argument in some cases, but in this one is suffers from a few flaws.
While it is true that you could wear a helmet while driving, and that this would be safer, you could also wear a helmet while walking down the street or sitting a work. It’s possible a brick could fall from a building. It’s possible you could trip on a sidewalk and crash your head into a mailbox. The helmet issue is ultimately a matter of mitigating likely risks, not eliminating all of them. If we should follow this all or nothing logic then we shouldn’t be climbing up rocks at all, or else we should be doing so without ropes or pads. Life itself has risks, and the individual person has the choice of which risks to take or to leave.
It is very unlikely a person in a modern, average car with seat belts and airbags will suffer a severe head injury. If an accident reached that severity, I doubt very much a helmet would accomplish anything. Likewise, it is not common (at least in my limited experience) for there to be serious head-injury risks at sport climbing areas or gyms. It can happen, its just not likely. If a person would feel more comfortable with a helmet than that is fine, if not, it is, for better or worse, their choice. If head injury risks are high, don a helmet. It is healthy to be aware of risks without obsessing over them.
Well, thats just my thoughts.
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This is basically the exact point that I was making.
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I thought the plural of “anecdote” was “data”?
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Are you being cute or do you really not understand Douglas’s point? Anecdotal evidence (in the televant sense) is highly unreliable because it usually contains all sorts of sample biases, which are compounded by various memory and salience biases. Of course, if you get enough anecdotes from enough sources and control for a bunch of variables, you can get good data. But then you’d have exactly the sort of statistics Douglas asks for.
Cf. anecdotes about vaccines “causing” autism.
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I remember John Sherman telling me he had multiple concussions and now wears a helmet when he boulders. In every other sport that you can fall and hit something, a helmet is worn. I don’t see how climbing is any different? This is kind of like the argument that climbers don’t have to train specifically or train off the wall to get better, “just climb a lot”. Once more kids get head injured from climbing falls, it will be standard practice, just like kids riding bikes these days, they wear helmets..
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Gymnasts don’t wear helmets. They have more pads sure… but I think it is more similar than comparing climbing to nearly any other sport that utilizes helmets.
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As long as climbing remains performance-based, helmets will most likely be a rarity at sport or bouldering crags. Many climbers would rather risk a head injury than risk not sending.
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In most cases, why not wear a helmet? Even if climbing helmets might not have the same impact rating/protection as a skate/bike helmet, it’s not likely going to be hitting the rock first if it’s on. Especially in high weather environments in the sierras, alaska, colorado, wyoming etc., the choss factor is reason enough to wear one..for you and your belayer’s sake. I used to be stubborn about helmets both cycling/climbing/skiing/skating because it’s arguably more comfortable…there’s less weight and as stupid as it sounds…I enjoyed a cooler head. Helmet technology is leading to decreased weight while still maintaining (if not increasing) impact ratings. I might be a hypocrite by not wearing a helmet on biweekly 1st flatiron freesolos…but who am I kidding. Most helmet-converts can attest to increased confidence on the rock (or any application) because it’s one less thing to worry about. Who cares if it looks stupid.
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Your helmet is too heavy, oh no! Only Douglas hunters coaching can help you now, gumby!
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the concept of risk mitigation is far more complex than a simple golden rule to wear helmets when climbing. Sometimes one takes their helmets of to fit through a squeeze chimney. sometimes the climbing is just not that hard.. As far as external/non controllable factors, there are only so many of them. Also proper climbing technique (ie keeping your legs out of the rope and positioning yourself for falls). Also understanding when you are going to fall goes a long way. there are climbing areas where wearing a helmet is very recommended and some areas wear you got to have a serious case of the “uncoordination” to mess yourself up. Self-awareness and honesty with ones own ability are way more important safety measures than any seatbelt or airbag can give you. Food for thought, did you know that obese people are more likely to get into MVC’s? Arguing whether one should wear a helmet is a good discussion to have with your direct climbing partner and not aimlessly through the interweb.
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So people should stop wearing seat belts and just focus on being safer drivers, then? It’s a false dichotomy. This isn’t a either/or scenario. You focus on being a safer climber AND you wear a helmet. You drive safely AND you wear a seat belt.
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comparing climbing to driving may be a bad example. As with driving, one has to maneuver around many external and uncontrollable factors (for example, other drivers, wet/icy roads). Driving is far more dangerous than climbing at the median level.
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Rock fall and friable hand/footholds, belayer error, cross-loaded biners and old/dangerous fixed gear, other parties above you knocking crap down, sharp edges cutting ropes, avalanches, lighting strikes, fast-moving storms… seems like there are plenty of external and uncontrollable factors to worry about in climbing. I’d be interested to see, after adjusting for the huge number differences between climbing and driving populations, which pursuit is more dangerous. I suppose it depends though — are we comparing bouldering, gym climbing, sport, trad, alpine, etc.?
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also, take a a look at our country risk mitigation techniques. Do you feel safer now?
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Once heard of a guy at the Red who insisted on wearing a helment. The guy got to the anchors of Tuna Town, but was too pumped to clip. The poor chap fell, but his helmet got caught on the anchors, almost hanging and choking him, before the strap gave and let him fall.
Ironically, the incident did not make the guy stop wearing a helmet sport climbing. He still wore it on all climbs. Except for one of course; his subsequent attempts on tuna town were all hemletless.
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To paraphrase Grant Peterson (in regards to Bike helmets) the best case scenario would be to wear a helmet and climb as if you weren’t. The point being that if you are embolden by wearing a helmet thinking you are safer, then you may be at even greater risk by taking more chances.
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Like many things in life, there is a time and place for helmets. You need or want one every time on every route.
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Does the Narc wear helmet?
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Multpitch trad always, not so much other disciplines.
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In a month no one will care about helmet use again. This is one of those things like “if you use a double bowline you’re going to die” that crops up every so often. Everyone gives their enlightened opinion, nothing changes, and we all go on with our lives until it comes up again.
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From what I’ve seen over the past 20 years, it seems there’s been a growing helmet trend in climbing and other sports. We humans tend towards risk mitigation over time. Biking, skiing, skateboarding, etc… When I did all of these as a youth, almost no one wore helmets. Today, they are very common across the board. You are right to say that in the short term, the buzz on the topic will fade. But in the medium and long term, the number of those who choose not to wear helmets while cragging will almost certainly shrink. (Hopefully, helmet tech will continue to improve, too!)
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There is no compelling reason to not wear a helmet. Safety first. I agree. However, this debate starts when Petzl is promoting all over it’s new overpriced light helmet. No wonder why you see a famous blogger talking about this repeatedly in his blog and guess who he works for. Or the other day at a very famous crag in CO, having a guy who is a rep for this company wearing this new helmet and emphasizing the safety issue.
The risks have always been there and again, I’m not against wearing a helmet. But it would be cleaner and honest if this whole debate didn’t have the smell of some company strategy to introduce a product.
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Feel free to be well-behaved, “Safety First” and timid but if I choose to not wear a plastic dome on my head it’s none of your !@#$% business.
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Anecdotal example and I almost never wear a helmet sport climbing (still to this day). One day my then GF decided we were going to wear them clipping bolts in Garden of the Gods. Got on a newer route, pulled down a softball sized piece of rock that exploded on her helmet. Not sure why I still don’t wear one on single pitch sport routes, but I generally feel that it’s more important on “safe” pitches for the belayer to don a bucket than it is for the climber.
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