Poor Natasha Richardson (Liam Neesons wife)

[nametaken]

|I hope she's gonna be OK

here

high speed high impact falls may not be affected by wearing helmets [though they may] Hwever other falls like NR's may be affected positively.

We ski in Colorado each year and helmets are very much the norm at the resort we use. Most instructors wear them and children are not accepted into ski school without them. I would say around 60-70% of the adult skiers wear them too.

We go to the US because we reduce our risk slightly by skiing on slopes that are not busy and crowded.

That said, skiing is a sport where you might get injured, sometimes seriously and you need to accept that small risk when you get out on the slopes.

This is so sad.

We had already decided that the next time we went skiing we were all wearing helmets before this happened due to an accident a friend had while snowboarding. he wasn't even going very fast.

He hit his head and for 3 days couldn't remember anything and asked us the same questions every 5 minutes. We actually had the answers written on post it notes as he asked the same thing so often and if it wasn't so worrying his amazed reaction when we knew what he was going to ask before he asked it would have been funny.

We can look back and laugh now, but we thought we were taking back a completely different person to his wife.

I've never found hearing a problem with my helmet - my ears aren't covered by the actual helmet bit but instead have fabrc flaps with little holes in.

So no worse than having a hat pulled down oevr your ears.

I bet it won't be long before there are 2 tiers of ski insurance and you get discount if you wear a helmet. Or maybe insurance companies may not offer insurance if you don't wear one. Certainly discounted insurance would be a good way to encourage people to wear one.

I haven't read the whole thread, it is a tragic accident, one that a helmet may or may not have prevented.

My DS is a ski instructor, he has taught in Canada, India, New Zealand and many other places, he never ever takes anyone without a helmet, no matter how experienced they claim to be. My son also replaces his helmet ( at my expense!) if he has had a knock or fall.

It is compulsory for him as an instructor and he and his colleagues all wear helmets in their leisure skiing.

I have skied where Natasha Richardson did, it is gentle and easy, so this is just a tragic accident, that went sadly very wrong.

It looks as all the correct procedures were followed by the resort. I have hurt myself there, so have first hand experience of how they manage it.