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Ski resort adds mandatory helmet rule
Following the tragic death of actress Natasha Richardson at Quebec's Mont Tremblant ski resort in 2009, the Canadian company that manages the park is imposing a mandatory helmet rule at all its North American resorts for the upcoming season.Intrawest, the company that oversees Tremblant and nine other snow resorts across North America, will require helmets for all teen and child skiiers and "recommend" them for other guests. Beginning in 2010, all skiiers and snowboarders at the resorts' freestyle terrain parks will also be required to wear helmets. The new rules will be phased in at Intrawest's resorts in Canada as well as their properties in the United States, including Steamboat and Stratton. In order to better publicize the decision, Intrawest plans to make a number of changes to its website and advertising, updating the imagery to include photos of guests wearing protective headgear.
Say what you will about the wisdom of mandatory helmet laws, but Intrawest's decision just makes sense. Whether you're riding a motorcycle, paddling the rapids or skiing down a hill, it should be natural to wear a helmet during higher risk activities. Richardson's high-profile skiing death only seems to have further pushed the issue to the forefront. Whether this sort of mandatory helmet rule will be extended to other American ski resorts remains to be seen.
Filed under: Skiing, North America, Canada, United States
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Zach Oct 2nd 2009 5:51PM
It's a good idea. I moved to Kentucky not too long ago and it blows my mind that motorcyclists aren't required to wear helmets.
Rob Oct 5th 2009 5:19PM
How about a little personal responsibility on the hill? It's just in bad taste for a ski area to force helmets on their customers.
But these resorts cater to out of town joeys from Kentucky who's minds are blown that in some places people are allowed to make decisions for themselves. Skiing at a resort is a chore now a days anyway.
I hope the over regulation leads to less customers and the turn around of the industry to it's roots, an individual sport where you control your own experience. (without hiking your a-- off)
Tom Oct 31st 2009 2:55PM
I think this is a good thing. Helmets are becoming more and more popular anyway - I run an online ski shop that specialises in ski helmets and noticed that sales have increased in recent years. Many customers are first time helmet buyers and their comments are generally along the lines of "You'd be stupid not to wear one".
I think many people avoid wearing them as they want to "look good" on the slopes, because they think they might be uncomfortable or expensive. There are many comfortable AND inexpensive helmets out there and there is a huge range of helmets that look great and actually add to your appearance if the skier/boarder is concerned about visuals. For example, take a look at the helmets on our site http://www.rideking.co.uk/ski-helmets-and-snowboarding-helmets.html - you can see a range of styles and prices to suit all and they all look pretty good - certainly not like your old-school cycle helmets.
My whole family and our friends we go skiing with all wear helmets are of the opinion that it's the non-helmet-wearers are the ones who are "uncool"! There are some great helmet manufacturers out there from big names like Pro-Tec, Red and Giro, to more specialised/up and coming ones like RuRoC. RuRoC's helmets (pictured here: http://www.rideking.co.uk/ruroc-helmets-for-skiers-and-snowboarders.html) integrate a face mask and goggles into the helmet offering even better protection (also they look pretty darn cool!). I've had customers contacting us when returning from holidays saying that these particular helmets had saved their lives from head on collisions with trees etc. One man sent us a photo of the whole mask and front of the helmet cracked, he had to buy a new one but he said it was by no means a waste of money because he wouldn't be here today if he hadn't been wearing one.
Another note, its sad that it took a high profile accident/death to make more people aware of the need for helmets - in the days following the accident our sales peaked noticeably, lets hope the number of such accidents will be reduced in the future through better awareness and more people wearing helmets.
Anyway, those are my thoughts on the matter!