Climbing helmet for off-trail exploration and high routes?

[lisa r]

I’ve never considering bringing a helmet on a trip that’s more backpacking-oriented than climbing, but recent events have got me thinking. I’ve read about three different incidents in the last month where hikers died from falls while traveling in steep, trail-less terrain. Two of the accidents are on routes that I’ve got on my next-year to do list and I didn’t previously think of them as overly technical or dangerous. There’s not a lot of information available about the nature of the accidents, except the most recent in which it was reported the person died from head trauma. I’m assuming the other two suffered the same kinds of injuries. I’m about to head down to the Sierra’s to do a trip that’s about 50% off trail and crossing a number of steep passes. Increasingly, my trips include at least some amount of this kind of travel. I know my mom’s answer to whether I should carry a helmet but I’m also not keen on adding another 7 oz when I’ve been struggling to shave ounces. What do you think…am I being overly cautious or smart to be leaning towards helmet-carrying? Do other folks who enjoy exploring off trail in sometimes steep terrain bring a helmet or wish they had? Thanks!

[Roger Caffin]

Biased personal opinion: I would not carry a helmet. Mind you, we used to wear helmets while rock CLIMBING, but that is different.

I wonder whether a helmet would have saved the guy who died from head trauma from a fall? I rather doubt it myself. A 7 oz helmet is not that much protection.

From the psych PoV, wearing a helmet may actually increase your risk. “I’ve got a helmet: I’ll be fine”.

I suggest placing a lot more faith on paying attention, going slow where needed, and possibly (but not always), carrying a light alpine rope and using it between partners.

Personal opinion.

Cheers

[Brad Rogers]

I don’t take a helmet, though I did pass two people in the Sierra that took helmets for Alpine Col in the Sierra (which I was going to do without a helmet but ended up altering my route) this year.  I was in Alaska crossing an off trail pass when a softball size rock whizzed by the head of one of the guys I was with.  He said it wasn’t that close, but looked close to me a hundred feet away.

To be honest, I think for off trail backpacking the biggest risk is foot/ankle/knee injuries that could immobilize you in a remote location.  Therefore I’d say the 7oz is better served carrying an inreach or similar.

[S Long]

Agree with the above. I only take my helmet on technical climbing routes. It’s what’s IN your head rather than what’s ON your head that matters in this case. Being careful and aware of your surroundings is the best precaution.

[David Franzen]

To me while climbing a helmet mostly prevents injuries from stuff (rocks etc.) falling onto my head rather me falling and hitting my head against stuff.

The former situation mostly happens when

a) there are other people above kicking off rocks or

b) when ice, which holds rocks together, melts and thus rocks come loose and fall.

[Ben C]

I will not be taking one off trail. Helmets have gotten more comfortable, but still hold in a significant amount of heat. Honestly, I only sometimes wear a helmet when climbing class 5 routes. I think they can throw off concentration and vision a little. On anything class 4 or lower, I’m definitely not taking a helmet. I would be more inclined to carry slab-friendly climbing shoes for short sections of climbing than a helmet.

[lisa r]

Interestingly, I posed this question to a women-only group and got almost the exact opposite responses…their consensus was yes, bring a helmet. I’m still leaning against it, but with new helmets being lightweight, well ventilated (and I’d only be wearing it for short stretches, not entire days), and offering full head protection designed to withstand impacts from falls, it’s harder to justify not carrying one in certain terrain. I do carry an InReach and have a healthy appreciation of my own mortality (if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be asking this question) and so I’m not concerned that I’d take more risk with a helmet than without. If it weren’t for these recent accidents this would never have even crossed my mind. I wish there was more information available about exactly what happened, but one happened in class 4, according to reports, and the other two may have been in class 3 terrain. You wouldn’t think to wear a helmet there but perhaps it would have made a difference for these three individuals. Hard to say…

[Pedestrian]

As has already been pointed out earlier in this thread, a helmet might protect you against falling rocks (or other debris). Falling objects might be a greater potential risk if you have climbers above you and you choose not to wait for the risk to clear.

The bigger issue is falls (it appears you mostly seek protection against falls); I doubt very much a helmet would offer much protection in the event of a significant fall.

 

[Ben C]

Bike helmets and skating helmets are designed for protection from head to ground contact. Those might provide better protection. But I suspect the newer climbing helmets provide significant protection.

[Roger Caffin]

offering full head protection designed to withstand impacts from falls,
Believing this is probably the biggest risk you run.

To be sure, a helmet will probably protect your head against a fall to the ground from a standing position, but if you fall more than a few metres onto rock the helmet will crush on your head – or break your neck.

I am reminded of an SF short story about bloke who was going into dangerous native territory, so he took a personal force field generator for safety. If attacked it would create an impenetrable sphere around him. He died. The natives just kept throwing rocks at him slowly so the shield never relaxed, and he starved to death.

If you had been wearing a really full-sized helmet when Hillary’s Step collapsed, you would still be dead.

Cheers

[David Thomas]

Carrying a helmet to protect against a certain, specific risk seems somewhat akin to carrying a firearm to “protect” against bears (pepper spray is lighter and actually more effective) which are a very unlikely in the first place.

Certain behaviors and practices, OTOH, protect against many bad outcomes: being in good physical shape, acclimatizing to elevation, a versatile kit of layered clothing, getting good sleep, not being over-exerted, watching the weather closely, always considering the no-action, low-mileage, and bailout options, etc.

[David Franzen]

If you really want to protect your head from falls, i suggest not getting a climbing helmet but rather a ski-helmet, bike-helmet or whatever.

Climbing helmets are NOT certified for falls! They are certified for things falling onto your herad. See „Performance of
Certified Climbing Helmets During
Simulated Climbing Falls“ http://bit.ly/2jRha2n

 

[Ralph Burgess]

“If you had been wearing a really full-sized helmet when Hillary’s Step collapsed, you would still be dead.”

I was, and I’m still alive.   Fortunately, I was nowhere near Everest at the time.

[Ralph Burgess]

“…I’m not concerned that I’d take more risk with a helmet than without…”

You may think this, but risk compensation is a very significant phenomenon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_compensation

Bear spray is something else that I think is of dubious safety value given risk compensation effects, since I think it’s questionable how effective it is – when faced with a charging grizzly, how many people will deploy it optimally?   By far the best strategy to stay safe in grizzly country is to travel in a group of 4 or more.   If we didn’t have bear spray, I think people would be much less inclined to venture out alone or in small groups.

SPOT and InReach devices are certainly highly effective, and I think their effectiveness probably does outweigh any risk compensation effects.   But can we honestly say that we wouldn’t think more carefully about contingency plans and escape routes if we didn’t carry them?

 

[Katherine .]

Ha, must be a gender thing. I’m thinking: that’s a really good idea, I might want to do that!

All well and good to carry and InReach/Spot/BPL, but it would sure help a lot to be conscious enough to push the SOS button!

Not so sure about the risk psychology assumptions.

Do I drive more recklessly because I’m wearing a seatbelt? No

Am I more cautious when I’m solo? Actually yes.

So that’s a draw, and I bet it depends a lot on the person and the particular circumstances.

I grew up skiing without a helmet. I very much resisted the idea of wearing one skiing. Last year I was really glad I had it on.

Decades from now, we’ll all be like “You did Class 4 scrabbles without a helmet?” Crazy, I know. Kinda like sitting in the front seat of the car when I was 5 in the 70s with the should strap behind my back and my mom smoking. (But we survived!!! um, yeah, cause we were never in a crash and she quit smoking)

In two decades we’ll all be like “remember when we used to just drive the cars ourselves?” And we’ll be wearing helmets 24/7.

Go a head. Give a try.

[Matt]

If it’s the risk of injury that motivates you to wear a helmet, the numbers dictate you wear it in the car to the trail head, rather than on the trail itself.  But that seems unreasonable … so does hiking in one.  There are just some inevitable risks in the “wild”erness.

[Lester Moore]

Wearing a light helmet off-trail scrambling over a Class II or III rocky pass is perfectly reasonable and not overly cautious. Few people you meet along the way would bat an eye at your helmet, even though most probably wouldn’t be wearing one themselves. Unless you are climbing stuff more difficult than your comfort level, the main risk to consider in these conditions is rock fall from above, followed by ankle twists and leg or forearm abrasion.

To take or omit a helmet under these conditions is a judgment call – there are good arguments either way. If the route is steep, loose and popular and unfamiliar to me, even if it’s only Class II or III, I’d probably consider a helmet, depending on duration of exposure to those risks. In contrast, if the route is familiar and traverses solid Class IV rock with low risk of rockfall from above (like ridge lines), I’d consider omitting a helmet, especially if the difficulties are short.

Long, steep and loose gullys (and the slopes beneath them) are the highest risk for rockfall, especially if people are above you. In those conditions you have to be very careful and aware of where you are and when you’re there based on what’s above you every step of the way.

The best way to make a decision about including or omitting a piece of safety gear is through lots of experience and sound risk assessment. If you are on the fence and choose to omit a safety item, then stack the odds in your favor with extra training, planning, skills and route research. If possible, hike a similar route close to home to get a better feel for your equipment needs under similar route conditions.

[Roger Caffin]

If it’s the risk of injury that motivates you to wear a helmet, the numbers dictate you wear it in the car to the trail head, rather than on the trail itself.

+1

Cheers

[SIMULACRA]

You can get serious head injuries and in rare scenarios even die from falling off a 6′ painters ladder. In all conditions proceed with caution and use your best judgement. Staying in a continuous state of fear will just take away from the great experiences. That being said, I’ve also had this very conversation with myself. If I’m going to be climbing in steep terrain where falling rocks from above may be a hazard. Then I’ll carry a helmet.

[Bruce Tolley]

From the anecdotal reports I used to read in the AAC Accidents in North American Mountaineering it seemed that head injuries were often caused by rock falling from above that had been displaced by other climbers.

[SIMULACRA]

@Bruce Tolley

“it seemed that head injuries were often caused by rock falling from above that had been displaced by other climbers.”

To what I understand, climbing helmets are designed to take impacts more from above than on the side, like what a bicycle helmet is designed to do. So your statement would make sense if not wearing a climbing helmet. If the worries are from a short fall injury, maybe a bicycle helmet would make more sense.

[Ryan Jordan]

inReach or climbing helmet?

Doesn’t seem like an either-or to me, both are used for different things.

I carry a helmet on any route with potential for Class 3-4 terrain, especially in summer when melting out rocks.

Just returned from a week+ trip in the Sierra and rockfall was pretty scary this year – high snow year, lots of melting out in August. I didn’t do anything higher than Class 3, but rockfall swept down one of my couloir routes a few hours after I finished it, and it was pretty freaky. I was wishing for a helmet then.

Adding 8 oz to your gear to provide a hedge against a rockfall head injury while you’re scrambling in steep alpine terrain? High consequence, low probability, but seriously, it’s only a half-pound.

My focus over the past few years is on hedging safety and comfort by increasing my fitness so I don’t half to balk at half a pound anymore. Ounce counting is fine, but this ideology belongs more to the realm of professional athletes, trail-bound FKTers, and those of us who like to minimize weight in safer terrain.

I’ve done both Alpine Col and the nearby Keyhole route. I probably wouldn’t take a helmet for Alpine Col (no steep rockfall risk) but the Keyhole – yes if there’s snow on either side…it’s pretty steep and there’s a lot of rockfall debris at the bottom.

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