As Jim says, there are other ways to protect yourself. In an area such as you describe, if you are climbing single pitch routes, it would make a lot of sense to use an indirect belay, with a ground anchor some distance form the base of the route, safe from rock fall. A direct belay would increase the load on the belayer in a fall. Most commonly, belayers think that standing underneath the climber is a good thing to do, often with claims of dynamic belaying to help the climber in falls. Dynamic belaying is a myth IMHO. Testing here http://user.xmission.com/~tmoyer/testing/Simulation_of_Climbing_and_Rescue_Belays.pdf shows: "Only a small amount of belayer lifting is helpful (~20 cm). More lifting increases fall distance and does not decrease peak force. " Importantly, this is a passive movement rather than an active dynamic belay in response to a fall. It is impossible to time a dynamic belay sufficiently accurately, and to jump sufficiently high (rather than being pulled upwards), to have any useful effect. For this reason it makes sense, to belay away from the base of the cliff when possible.

Some in this thread have mentioned never wearing a helmet. Not safe advice.

Rob.calm

Plenty of people chose not to wear a helmet but I can´t see anywhere in the thread that they are advising anyone else to follow their example. It is a personal choice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJhngt_wS2Y
Sorry, never learned to make things clicky

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJhngt_wS2Y
Sorry, never learned to make things clicky

Plenty of people chose not to wear a helmet but I can´t see anywhere in the thread that they are advising anyone else to follow their example. It is a personal choice.

Me? I worn a helmet once in the last 15 years. The protection they offer from impacts is so pathetic compared with the normal race helmets I´m used to I can´t be bothered (and I don´t fall of much anyway) and the impact protection from falling objects doesn´t seem much related to the size of the rocks I play around on.

There are other ways to protect oneself such as don´t stand around chatting at the bottom of the cliff when bumblies are going off route, don´t follow incompetent parties on long routes, belay under nice overhangs and so on.

Wear a hat or not, I´ve no real opinion but one should have no illusions it will keep you alive when you ab off the end of the rope or when a fridge-block comes down the mountain.

I've offered very similar opinions in the past and agree with everything you have said here. If history is any judge, you'll probably catch quite a bit of flack from those who claim that anybody climbing without a helmet is an idiot, etc.

One additional thing. To my knowledge, no climbing helmet that is certified under EN 12492 alone is designed to protect a climber from hitting his head in a fall. EN 12492 tests helmets with a maximum falling mass of 5kg falling a distance of 1/2 meter.

Curt

I thought that picture was long lost. How did you find it?

“It was a fatal blow to the head, if he had more protection maybe we would not be here today to mourn him. After what happened, institutions should make helmets mandatory, at least for minors. Much like they have for the kids who practice skiing and snowboarding. "

This is what helmets can potentially protect you from:



http://gripped.com/...o-traversa-accident/

This is what helmets can potentially protect you from:



http://gripped.com/...o-traversa-accident/

... once a softball sized rock fell about 3 meters clipping me on the helmet (knock off by some kind of goat!)...

What you should be asking: "have you ever come away from a day of climbing, regretting that you wore a helmet?"

Thinking a helmet is going to help when you take a 25m groundfall is about as optimistic as thinking a rubber band is going to prevent the fall in the first place.

You obviously know a heck of a lot more about this than I do, but I can't imagine a helmet hurts in this situation, and I can't imagine the impact of a person's head on the ground without a helmet is the same or even less than the same fall with a hard(ish) protective covering.

Does the helmet help absolutely 0%? Does it help 1%? For me, with a helmet, the person's head doesn't hit the ground directly until the helmet is crushed or breaks apart. The way that I understand it there's a buffer there. OK, I can imagine if the helmet causes a person's head to hit at an awkward angle, or if the plastic cuts into the skin. I can see that happening, but I can't see it having zero affect on the overall impact.

There was an accident a few years ago with a popular Boston climber where her partner dislodged a rock that knocked her unconscious. She was belaying with a grigri, so that probably saved her partner's life (because it locked as opposed a tube-style device that would have cratered him). I honestly can't remember if she was wearing a helmet or not. But if she was / were, would the helmet have lessened her injuries?

If the answer is no, then why aren't we seeing an outcry of why helmets are a complete and utter scam?

It's an honest question. I'm not trying to be sarcastic. I'm also not a statistician an academic researcher, so a lay man's answer is preferred. Thanks...

Greg