Once rare, they are becoming increasingly common on Mount Ashland and elsewhere as more and more pro athletes have adopted them

If you wear a helmet when you ride the snow, you have lots more company these days than you used to.

Skid lid, brain bucket, crash cup — whatever you call them, helmets have won wider acceptance over the past few years and become increasingly popular among snow riders

Older skiers and ’boarders appreciate the extra protection that a helmet provides. Younger riders strap on a lid to emulate the stars they see on TV.

Maturity, or a sense of mortality, prompts some people to put on a helmet, says Brian McQueen, sales floor manager at Medford’s Rogue Ski Shop. McQueen says many skiers realized they, too, could have a bad accident after a well-known local skier nearly died on Mount Ashland in 2002.

Andy Atkinson was not wearing a helmet when he crashed in steep terrain and his head struck a rock. He was in a coma for days and took months to recover.

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"Andy was a great skier," McQueen said. "His accident woke a lot of us up. If it could happen to Andy it could happen to any of us."

Images of helmeted snowboarders in movies and on television have made head protection less onerous for young riders trying to cultivate an attitude, says Colin Jensen, manager of Medford’s Extreme Board Shop.

"The pros are wearing them, and that makes them cool," Jensen says. "When I was a kid, helmets weren’t cool and I didn’t want to wear one."

Today’s helmets are a far cry from their heavy, bulky ancestors. Lightweight materials make them far more comfortable to wear. Adjustable vents channel air inside to keep the wearer cool on those days when skiing can raise a sweat.

"They’re way more user friendly," McQueen says.

Helmets have even become a fashion accessory for stylin’ riders. Designs range from retro (think World War II GI steel pot) to sci-fi (Darth Vader on a snowboard). Some new models are equipped to play music from iPods or MP3 players. Others have detachable ear covers that allow them to be used for bicycling or roller skating.

Prices range from $45 for an entry level lid to as much as $280 for an upscale bucket that’s compatible with Bluetooth, the communication technology that connects mobile phones, laptop computers, and personal digital assistants via a secure short-range radio frequency.

"You see those on people at places like Vail, where they work while they’re skiing," McQueen says.

Interest in helmets first took off in 1998, after celebrities Sonny Bono and Michael Kennedy died after crashing with no head protection. Helmet sales reached nearly 650,000 by the winter of 2001-02.

McQueen says annual sales have dropped somewhat, but helmets are still strong sellers. He says most buyers seem more worried about colliding with an out-of-control rider than crashing into a rock or a tree.

Ski areas have responded by increasing their stock of rental helmets. The Mount Ashland ski area, for example, now has more than 80 helmets in its rental shop. Just a few years ago, there were only a dozen helmets, and most of them were for kid-sized heads, said Rick Saul, Mount Ashland’s marketing director.

Ski areas set their own rules for helmet use. On Mount Ashland, for example, helmets are required to compete in races sponsored by the Mount Ashland Racing Association. Mount Ashland also requires helmets for kids who enroll in its X-Riders snowboard program and participate in freestyle competitions.

"Our ski instructors wear them," he said. "A lot of our (ski) patrollers wear them."

Helmets, of course, have their limits. They’re designed to provide protection at impact speeds of about 12 mph. The number one factor in reducing injury accidents, Saul says, is to ski or ’board safely and in control.

Helmets are safety certified by several testing organizations in the United States and Europe. The Common European Norm (CEN) 1077, the European standard, is the least demanding, according to information from the National Ski Areas Association.

The American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) adopted its F2040 standard in May 2000, and it has become the standard for helmets manufactured in the United States. The Snell Memorial Foundation, a not-for-profit helmet safety organization, has the most stringent standard, RS-98.

The ski area association stopped short of recommending that snow riders wear helmets. NSAA’s position, taken from its Web site, says "the decision of whether to wear (a helmet) should be a matter of personal choice. NSAA recommends that parents educate themselves about the benefits and limitations of helmets and then make the choice that’s right for them."

Many riders who decide to strap on a lid for safety’s sake soon discover another completely unexpected benefit. On a bitter cold day, a helmet warms the head better than any hat.

Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail bkettler@mailtribune.com.

Research shows headgear reduces the risk of injury

CHICAGO — Helmets greatly reduce the risk of head injuries among skiers and snowboarders, Norwegian researchers found, dispelling fears that protective headgear would only make people more reckless on the slopes.

Researchers hope their study, along with helmet-clad Olympic athletes like Shaun "The Flying Tomato" White, will lead to greater use of headgear.

"Do as the Olympians do," said study co-author Dr. Roald Bahr of the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences in Oslo. "Wear a helmet, even if you’re not an elite skier or snowboarder — especially if you’re not."

Some critics argue helmets may lead to accidents by giving daredevil skiers a false sense of security or cause more neck injuries because of the weight of the headgear.

The study found that while risk takers were more likely to wear helmets, helmet wearers overall were 60 percent less likely to suffer head injuries. It also found a lower risk of neck injuries with helmet wear, but that finding was not statistically significant, meaning it could have been due to chance.

The study looked at data on more than 6,000 skiers and snowboarders at eight Norwegian ski resorts during the 2002 winter season. It appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.

With about 39 fatalities a year, skiing and snowboarding are safer than bicycling or swimming, which have higher death rates, according to the National Ski Areas Association, a trade group.

Helmet use is increasing, the group said, with one-third of skiers and snowboarders surveyed last season wearing helmets, compared with 28 percent the year before.

Over the past five years, almost 40 percent of skiers and snowboarders who died in ski accidents wore helmets, said Jasper Healy, professor emeritus at Rochester Institute of Technology, who does similar research but was not involved in the new study.

"I do wear a helmet," Healy said. "But if you hit a tree, don’t think a helmet will make the difference in being alive or being dead. It won’t."

Dr. Pietro Tonino, chief of sports medicine at Loyola University Health System, said the study will lead parents to buy helmets for their children. But he predicted the Olympics will persuade young people to wear them.

"You can still be cool even when you’re wearing a helmet," Tonino said

On the Net: JAMA: http://jama.ama-assn.org