Wear a Helmet

I was one of the 1st one's to call it a "retard helmet" ... and yes I am very sorry. Of course I learned my lesson... while I go on and on about this ... I was standing next to a bus carrying retarded children at Windham mountain for the special olympic event. I'm such a douchebag!

In any event, after a VERY hard fall in Colorado, I bought my helmet... and I've worn it pretty much every day snowboarding since.

This past weekend I fell... bad. I caught my nose, flipped in the air, landed on my head, bounced in the air again and landed full force onto my hip. I flopped there for about 5 minutes before I could get up. My hip was the true injury... I think I literally smashed my muscle into oblivion.

Once I finally got down the mountain I inspected my body and a few bruises and hip replacement later (I kid... however my hip STILL hurts), I noticed a sizable bump on my left side of my head. Mind you, I was wearing my helmet and wearing it properly. I managed to get a bump on my head (headache and all) THROUGH my helmet. Had I not have been wearing my helmet... that lovely dent on my helmet would have been my skull!

Once upon a time I thought you couldn't get hurt on the bunny slope... even on the easier trails... and even on the hard ones if you were going slow enough. Then I saw Natasha Richardson's tragic accident on the news. She may be brain dead from an accident that left no bump, no bruise, no blood. What a freak accident. Maybe she had something wrong with her before the incident, who knows. But I am now preaching that a helmet is your best friend on the mountain or during any extreme sport! Buy one! Where one!

Think about it, beginners, do you know how out of control you are on a board/skis... you are clueless... cannot stop on a dime, cannot turn well.... neither can anyone else. It is like giving a bunch of 4 year olds keys to your cars and directions to the GCP... even if you aren't wreckless... someone else may be. So maybe you won't hit that tree, or that 2 year old child... but can you guarantee that dude behind you isn't going to fly into your and pummel you done the hill... or worse... have a uncontrolled snowboard/ski fly into your temple and literally split your head open? WEAR A HELMET! Its like a seatbelt... think of it as automatic.