.......I have personally witnessed three events where wearing a helmet prevented a serious injury. Two involved rockfall and one a pendulum fall that resulted in a pretty hard crash into a corner. None of these were "the fault" of the climber.

I will also say this. Just because someone plays at being a safety nazi doesn't guarantee that they are safe climbers.

Regardless of whether it is the climbers fault when a rock comes down, or he/she falls poorly, s--- happens, and head injuries do occur. All it takes is one screw up: a rock thrown by kids, a hold weakened by freeze/thaw, whatever. Anything can happen, and a head is not very forgiving. Kayakers wear helmets, and more often find them useful when slipping on shore then in the water. Most construction sites demand them, even when there is virtually no risk of falling objects. A helmet should be seen as a mandatory piece of protection. Who cares how the injury happens or who was responsible. Who cares if people who wear helmets develop the illusion that it will save them from unsafe climbing. Any sport that involves a risk of head injury should require a helmet...whether it changes your climbing style is up to you. But in the end, wearing a bucket and avoiding a fist sized rock making you a vegetable is a good investment.

I wear a helmet in the mountains, (unless it's a ridge traverse) aid climbing, and rope solo. I have never had a climbing partner pull a gumbie could of killed me stunt with rock fall. When climbing in loose terrain, my climbing partners place gear in such a way that the rope doesn't knock anything down. They test hold before they pull on them and then they make sure pull less hard then anyone else. In the rare event that a hold does break off, they either hold on to it or they toss it in a safe direction. If it is too big to do the above, they will not pull it off in the first place.

Whats next people? Is someone going to try to convince me that Locking biners aren't worth the money because they've never seen a regular biner become unclipped?

one good reason to wear a helmet-- it helps you climb harder. You can worry about the consequences of a fall less and that lets you commit more.

Um... this is why you always ought to wear a helmet. I helmet is better protection against falling stuff than the belayer trying to move out of the way….

Re: the comparison between helmets and seatbelts. Wearing a seatbelt is equivalent to buying half of all the tickets. Wearing a helmet is more like buying ten tickets instead of one. (These seem like reasonable ballpark estimates, anyone want to take a shot at punching real numbers?.)

As far as falling and hitting your head on a rock? I have taken, belayed, or witnessed something on the order of 10,000 to 20,000 falls. Couple broken ankles and a bunch of dropped climbers sums up the injury tally. No concussions, no scalp injuries, maybe someone chipped a tooth. Never any helmets. The key was not falling in such a way as to hit your head. People seem to think that isn't possible. Practice shows that it is.

As far as I can tell from anam and other sources, head injuries seem to be much more common in the mountains, and not just because of loose rock. The larger cause seems to be long tumbling falls. (mostly based on stories from various climbers that have taken falls in the mountains. They pretty much all got hurt.)

My biggest problem with the modern helmet crowd is that in practice, and among other things, it has replaced the DO NOT CLIMB UNDERNEATH OTHER PEOPLE rule. Lets see, which makes more sense? Wear a helmet in an effort to protect yourself from people dropping things on you or don't climb underneath the people in the first place?

So the newbie crowd has discarded the idea of not falling on easy routes. Discarded the rule of not climbing under other people. Discarded the idea of learning how to follow before they start leading.

Decided that dropping a rock on their partner, it isn't their fault. After all of that, they go out and buy a helmet and talk about how much safer they are because of it, and how anybody who doesn't wear a helmet must be stupid.

Let's take Tahquitz and Suicide for example. The increase in rock fall hazard is way out of proportion to the increase in climber traffic. It was getting crowded on weekends 15 years ago. There wasn't the same rock fall madness that there is today. If anything, it was more common to come close to getting hit by a figure eight. (The sound of a figure eight pinging down the weeping wall is something I will never forget)

There was a definite correlation between the increase in the use of helmets and the increase in the need to wear a helmet. People seem to be getting the helmet message pretty good. On the other hand, they do not seem to be getting the message that it is possible to climb without sending every other rock down the cliff. From what I have seen people are getting worse at this every year and the rocks that they are sending down are getting larger as well.

I will not climb there on weekends anymore because I consider it an unreasonable and unnecessary risk

here goes http://instagiber.net/...om/boxing_smiley.gif

*a long rant*

Ok, so now tell me if that smiley on the left would be better off with or without a helmet?

Actually, a a few occasions I have seen head injuries that would not have happened if the climbing had worn a helmet. In two occasions, the climber fell upside down.

None of this should be taken as encouraging anyone not to wear a helmet. (Then what was your point?)

Uh, helmets don't help you not get the rope behind your leg.