Actress Natasha Richardson dies

[Frequitude]

I just started wearing a helmet last season. Can't imagine skiing without one now. I actually ski much better with it...more aggressive, pounding through the trees, taking branches off the face. It's awesome.

RIP Natasha.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Jayems

Nobody ever forced me to wear a helmet and for most of my life never wore one, be it boarding or skiing. One day a few years ago, I just decided to walk down to the store and buy a helmet. I don't have a cool story like the next run I smashed my head and was saved by my new helmet, but something just clicked and now I can't imagine going to the hill without it.

A skiied for many years without a helment. The thought of a head injury never crossed mind, especially after my many numerous wipeouts on the hill. I always prefered speed and in that respect i was probably very lucky to have never sustained a head injury. Now because of bad knees i don't ski anymore, but if i did start again, a helment would be worn by me.

RIP Natasha

[RT14]

Wow, like others have said already, I thought the media was blowing things way out of proportion on her injuries because of her celebrity status. Didn't expect this at all. Amazing how fragile the human body really is.

RIP Natasha, and sorry for your loss Liam and family. Tragic.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by RT14

Wow, like others have said already, I thought the media was blowing things way out of proportion on her injuries because of her celebrity status. Didn't expect this at all. Amazing how fragile the human body really is.

RIP Natasha, and sorry for your loss Liam and family. Tragic.

Or how fragile life is.

If there's a message to be taken from all this, it's about living life to it's fullest. The day you wake up could be your last.

[Flamesoholic]

Originally Posted by Finny61

Well if she had a helmet on I'd say the hill didn't get her and she had some health issue. I honestly haven't looked too much into the story so I don't know for sure, I heard from a co-worker that she wasn't wearing one.

Yeah, after reading a bit more it does sound like it wasn't mandatory, but I bet that will be changing soon.

[RT14]

Originally Posted by Dion

Or how fragile life is.

If there's a message to be taken from all this, it's about living life to it's fullest. The day you wake up could be your last.

I couldn't agree with those statements more. Isn't it funny though, that as much as we've all heard this and agree with it, most of us still are sitting at our computers reading up on the newest things on Calgary Puck? For some reason, I don't think we are acting upon this fantastic truth.

[Machiavelli]

Originally Posted by RT14

I couldn't agree with those statements more. Isn't it funny though, that as much as we've all heard this and agree with it, most of us still are sitting at our computers reading up on the newest things on Calgary Puck? For some reason, I don't think we are acting upon this fantastic truth.

And everyone thinks the next tragic thing will happen to someone else, never to one's own family/self.

[Bobblehead]

I saw too many skiers who were far better at skiing than I was, and they were wearing helmets, so I picked one up.

I know there was one day a couple years ago at Fernie on a steep run that all the poweder had been cleaned off of I caught an edge and recall hitting the ground and feeling my head snap back. I saw a few stars for a sec but was pretty glad I was wearing a helmet.

[Thor]

Very sad, RIP.

Not that anyone famous deserves more attention, at least maybe in this incident it raises awareness about ski safety.

[Ice]

This is a really sad story, she was very talented. It has to be so scary for her sons to lose their mother.

I really resisted wearing a helmet when I was learning to snowboard, but my family and friends strongly urged me to get one. Then my mom got me a helmet for Christmas so I had to wear it. I wouldn't board without one.

The key is also to wear your helmet correctly. A couple of summers ago, my sons hockey teammate died of a brain injury resulting from a small crash on his bike while wearing a helmet. Initially he seemed fine, asked for his dad and then started convulsing. Later that night at the hospital his parents ended life support.

The lesson to learn here is that all heads need to be protected. If you have kids and they don't want to look like a dork, too bad, make them wear a properly fitted helmet. Its easy to forget that a seemingly minor brain injury could end one's life.

[FiftyBelow]

I remember cycling with a friend through some trails in a small town that I used to live in... and my friend ended up flying head-first into a tree. The collision was so bad that it split his helmet in half. Luckily he walked away without any injury at all. I can only imagine what kind of injury he would sustained without it. At that time I wasn't wearing a helmet. After witnessing that though, that quickly changed.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Dion

Or how fragile life is.

If there's a message to be taken from all this, it's about living life to it's fullest. The day you wake up could be your last.

Promise?

[604flames]

RIP and condolences to the family.

I used to wear a helmet when I raced, but took it off after I stopped. The next season, I got my bell rung really badly on a fluky fall after skiing all day and into the night (at Kimberley), ended up being my first of 3 concussions.

Even my dad, who's skied for 40 yrs wears a helmet now.

[Russic]

No matter what I did I couldn't get out of my snowboarding rut. I knew the necessary turns, but I'd always freak out and slow down after about 5 seconds of increasing speed. Somebody I met on a chair lift told me I was being a tool for learning to snowboard without a helmet because of all the falling you do directly backwards or directly forwards. His logic seemed sound so I picked up a helmet. Suddenly all my nerves were calmed and I could progress my skills. My helmet improved my skills probably 10x in an afternoon.

A few months later I was getting exhausted on the ski-out at sunshine. For those who haven't taken it, it's a rather narrow run that goes all the way to the parking lot. For snowboarders those can get more tiring because you tend to be on one edge for long periods of time. I was on my toes going around a soft corner and my muscles were so tired I didn't even notice my heals were dropping. It took about .2 seconds to catch my back edge and get pounded into the ground. When I shaked the cobwebs I realized that the back of my helmet landed on a protruding rock. I don't even want to imagine what would have happened without a helmet.

I can see why skiers don't wear them because their falls tend to be to the sides, but I'd really like to see that attitude change. Like others have said rocks, trees and other riders all pose a massive threat beyond the snow and ice itself.

RIP

[FFR]

I skiied a bit when I was younger. A lot with school and I remember that we were never offered helmets. No one wore one - and I'm not that old (23). But thinking about it now, I don't think I would go skiing without a helmet. I don't know why I didn't wear one then...