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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Aug 23, 2017 - 01:02pm PT
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But that gumby is setting the values for a bunch of kids who are getting into climbing. Having societal reinforcement of a more effective value is a good thing. Without it, new climbers are playing Russian Roulette based on who is showing them how to do things.
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GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
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Aug 23, 2017 - 02:49pm PT
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Has a lot more merit in single pitch climbing than it used to due to new helmet technology
That being said while sport climbing I can't be bothered to put one on, unless there's something weird going on
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Mark Force
Trad climber
Ashland, Oregon
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Aug 23, 2017 - 03:52pm PT
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Ojai, I'll sell you my old Joe Brown helmet!
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Aug 23, 2017 - 04:26pm PT
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From an article in Climbing...
Virtually no one boulders with a helmet, despite the frequent bruising falls many boulderers take. One who does is the father of the bouldering V-grade and author of the Hueco Tanks guidebook, John "Verm" Sherman, who has had multiple concussions and now sports a helmet on highballs and even some butt-draggers. In a column at dpmclimbing.com, Sherman wrote, "These days, if I can't find a legitimate reason not to wear a helmet, I wear one. Which is 98 percent of the time."
Rodden says her recovery was slow, and she wonders if the concussion is to blame when she has trouble concentrating even today. The symptoms of traumatic brain injury can last for weeks or months—and multiple concussions can cause years of problems. The accident caused Rodden to rethink her stance on climbing helmets. "I hardly ever wore a helmet while climbing in Yosemite, but now I always try to wear one, even if the route is easy," she says.
But sometimes, especially when the climbing is hard, Rodden chooses to leave her helmet behind. When we spoke, she was in Spain for sport climbing on overhanging limestone, and she hadn't even packed a helmet for the trip.
https://www.climbing.com/news/no-brainer-helmet/
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Aug 24, 2017 - 06:54am PT
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I was almost killed by rockfall while free soloing. Took a grapefruit sized rock to the head.
Any real alpinist who has spent time on the receiving end of a rockfall barrage will tell you that "real" climbers wear helmets.
Modern helmets are crap. I still have my Joe Brown.
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Loco de Pedra
Mountain climber
Around the World
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Aug 24, 2017 - 02:49pm PT
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Many times im the only one wearing a helmet when sport climbing.
I know might not be cool for some but I can live with that.
For me is a matter of style. Each to his own.
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limpingcrab
Trad climber
the middle of CA
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Aug 24, 2017 - 03:09pm PT
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"I've never understood why someone wouldn't wear a helmet?"
Not to be a contrarian but I wonder why you would.
Except in Canada
Six concussion and some long talks from doctors. Granted, none of them were climbing, but I still feel weird without a helmet.
Also, I suck at climbing and occasionally notice the rope behind my leg.
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Aug 24, 2017 - 03:16pm PT
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Here's a nerd/gumbie on top of Snowyside Peak in Idaho's Sawtooth Mountains, back in 1971 with a REI helmet & Levis.
Oops! I was the nerd!
I got less gumbie/nerd-like, after I bought an Ultimate Helmet & Chouinard wool knickers in 1974.
Yeah, & I seldom wore a helmet for rock-climbing at a crag, until I got my new Petzil helmet in 2010.
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ontheedgeandscaredtodeath
Social climber
Wilds of New Mexico
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 24, 2017 - 03:56pm PT
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My three helmets:
Homemade climbing helmet on Mt. Moran (plz also note tube socks)...
Pakistan...
Fairview...
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jeff constine
Trad climber
Ao Namao
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Aug 24, 2017 - 04:46pm PT
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For work only.
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Aug 24, 2017 - 08:59pm PT
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Never used to wear one except when climbing ice or couloirs. Nowadays, as Donini mentioned, they're so light that it's hard to justify not wearing one. Now that my daughter (she's 13) is starting to climb outside I try to wear one to set a good example and not to be a hypocrite. I wore one at Clark Canyon last week and forgot I was wearing it. It would have also helped years ago when someone tossed a rock off the Apes Wall, clocking me on top of the head.
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Winemaker
Sport climber
Yakima, WA
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Aug 24, 2017 - 09:07pm PT
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Was happy to be wearing one when my (ex) climbing 'partner' threw the rope then yelled 'rope'. Crouched against the wall and waited for the impact. Helmet helped but probably not the end. His explanation was 'gravity took over'. Yeah, but you could have warned me before launching it.
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rbord
Boulder climber
atlanta
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Aug 25, 2017 - 11:20am PT
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I was just surprised to hear some blow hard at the crag tell a group of beginners that helmets are for gunbies!!
I'm surprised that you were surprised by that. You haven't met very many humans, have you? :-) Sounds like they hadn't met very many climbers.
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Aug 25, 2017 - 11:37am PT
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so offensively lame looking and feeling
No helmet looks more lame or feels worse than a concussion or crushed skull with bone fragments in the brain. And it's certainly a lot less offensive than causing your partner to mess up their evening plans because they have to drive you to a hospital or fill out some report or give a statement about how you died.
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labrat
Trad climber
Erik O. Auburn, CA
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Aug 25, 2017 - 12:09pm PT
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^^ x2 ^^
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Aug 25, 2017 - 12:12pm PT
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41 years ago I wore a helmet skiing at Snowbird and endured endless taunts.
Last winter I skied Vail and almost everybody had a brain bowl.
But no amount of protection can fix stupid.
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rbord
Boulder climber
atlanta
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Aug 25, 2017 - 08:50pm PT
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People used to be such idiots for not wearing helmets. I wonder if they realized that they were idiots at the time? On the plus side though, I guess they did help spawn the generation of super geniuses that we are now.
But still, even today, some people still can't do simple math, like:
pain of concussion > embarrassment of wearing helmet,
and they get all caught up trying to compute the risk of hitting their head versus the certainty of embarrassment of wearing the helmet, the social standing value of being a tough guy, and on and on and on.
What are they thinking??!! Seriously, cost of concussion > cost of embarrassment. It's trivial. It always surprises me how much other people just suck at math.
Someday we'll all be geniuses and believe what I believe. Ad nauseum.
But maybe don't hold your breath waiting for people to stop being impressed by their own awesome thought processes. You too?
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rincon
climber
Coarsegold
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Aug 25, 2017 - 08:53pm PT
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Why don't you just stop climbing altogether? You'd be so much safer.
Do the math.
Lots of idiots wear helmets and think they're safe. They expect to be able fall and not get hurt. Lot's of people die wearing helmets. Rock climbing is very dangerous helmet or not. Knowing the fuk what your doing is way more important than wearing a helmet.
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rbord
Boulder climber
atlanta
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Aug 25, 2017 - 09:01pm PT
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Right? The safest thing would to just be dead. But I think it would be hard to congratulate ourselves on how right we are and how wrong other people are at that point, so maybe we're better off doing it this way. I don't know - you do your own math :-)
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