Ski helmet use way up - but less so close to home

Natalie Allen never thought twice about cruising down black diamond runs in the Rockies with nothing on her head but a cotton cap.

Until a few years ago, that is.

"I decided I spent too much on my education to ruin my brain," Allen said of her degrees from the University of Michigan, where she raced on the ski team, and the Wharton School. "I go really hard core and want to be as protected as possible."

Now the Barrington High School graduate said she looks around Breckenridge, Colo., and sees just about everyone wearing a helmet.

So does longtime skier Dr. Robert Steinberg, a Hoffman Estates podiatrist who researches custom ski boot fitting.

"Your average skier is wearing a helmet out West today," he said.

The National Ski Areas Association, based in McLean, Va., reported that in the 2007-08 season, 43 percent of U.S. skiers and snowboarders wore helmets, up from 25 percent in 2002-03. The number jumps to 70 percent for children under 10.

Helmut use is receiving renewed attention, in the wake of actress Natasha Richardson's death after falling on a ski slope in Quebec last week. She was not wearing helmet.

But the use of helmets out West does not seem to carry through on the smaller slopes closer to home. Few skiers take advantage of the $5 helmet rentals the Villa Olivia ski area in Bartlett started offering three years ago.

"The majority of skiers definitely do not wear them," ski rental manager Tim Rooney said. "They're mostly for the snowboarders and kids with safety-conscious parents."

But even he has seen an increase in helmet use, as has J.T. Malone, recreation director at Four Lakes in Lisle.

"I saw the number of skiers wearing helmets skyrocket this season," he said. "But, overall, a lot of adults don't use them."

Close to three-fourths of all rental operations carry helmets today, the National Ski Areas Association said.

The Barrington Park District ski club, made up of 500 students at Station and Prairie middle schools, implemented a helmet incentive program six years ago.

"We were ending up in the hospital every Friday night with minor concussions," Kim Sweeney, park district recreation supervisor, said. "It wasn't cool to wear a helmet."

Now 85 percent of kids are wearing them and, as an incentive to do so, have chances at winning prizes from Viking Ski Shop in Barrington. Only one skier was injured this season - and he wasn't wearing a helmet.

Park district officials considered mandating them, but their attorney said doing so would actually make the district liable in the event of an injury.

Streamwood High School also doesn't require ski club members to wear helmets. Faculty sponsor Bob Thomson said that of the 25 kids who took part in three tips to Wisconsin's Wilmot Mountain, most are snowboarders and most wear helmets. Thomson himself doesn't wear one, even though he does when riding a bike.

"I rationalize that I'm not much of a risk-taker," he said.

Most ski resorts have closed for the season, so it remains to be seen whether people will change their behavior following Richardson's death after falling Monday on a beginner slope in Quebec.

Interestingly, helmet usage increases with the skier's ability level, the National Ski Areas Association reported.

But if trends continue, even more skiers will opt to use them. SnowSports Industries America reported helmet sales - typical price tag: $80 - grew 9 percent on average in each of the last three seasons, to nearly 700,000 so far this season. The Vertical Drop ski shop in St. Charles reported 300 helmets sold this winter, a jump from past years.

But that might relate more to snowboarding's rising popularity.

According to the Sporting Goods Association in Mount Prospect, the number of people ages 7 and up who snowboarded at least twice in 1997 was 2.8 million. In 2007, it was 5.1 million people.

Alpine skiing, meanwhile, is on the decline. An estimated 5.5 million people skied in 2007, a drop from 8.9 million in 1997.

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