Off Trail Fatal on Kinsman

[skiguy]

As much as this audience revers Joe Dodge, the helmet you are referencing was a Joe Brown you are referencing was a Joe Brown, That and the Bell Topex were the choices back then. And you are right no one wore then.

Helmets can protect you from things falling on your head or you falling on your head. Climbing helmets are more designed for the former but the use case discussed here seems to be the latter.

An appropriate quote from Tom Patey (you who profess to have been climbers 50 years ago should know who that is):
"a helmet is of particular benefit to the falling climber if the fall is a long one. In these cases, if the climber lands the right way, he will be completely telescoped into a small globular mass inside the helmet which can be easily stowed inside a rucksack by the mountain rescue team.."

Thank you for the correction. Great read here if you haven’t already. http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12197351700/One-Mans-Mountains

 

[NHChris]

Bicycle and climbing helmets are rather primitive in that most use a hard shell and strap suspension system.

Some ski helmets and all motorcycle helmets forgo strap suspension and enclose your skull in a layer of foam, and that is where the aging failure occurs.

Over time the foam drys out and can no longer provide the progressive compression required to absorb an impact. On a ten year old motorcycle helmet the hard outer shell is fine but the inner foam layer can’t be trusted.

Newer bicycle and ski helmets are rated MIPS 3. That’s multi-directional impact protection system and is probably a good reason to replace that old bike helmet with the latest greatest.