Helmets gain acceptance with celeb boost

When another family recently offered our daughter a chance to go downhill skiing at Schweitzer Mountain, my wife and I brought up the H word and waited for the rebellion.

“No problem,” our daughter said after a short retreat with her cell phone. “My friends say everybody at Schweitzer wears a helmet.”

Well, maybe not “everybody,” but helmet use, virtually nonexistent a decade ago, has increased over the past three seasons from 25 to 28 to 33 percent, according to the National Ski Areas Association.

“We encourage people to wear helmets, but we add a caveat,” NSAA president Michael Berry said. “Put on a helmet, but ski and snowboard as though you didn’t have one on.”

A helmet won’t do much for you if you hit a tree going 25 mph, he said.

People still need to be cautious. But helmets are preventing or minimizing head injuries by the hundreds, ski areas report.

And they’re stylish and comfortable to boot.

Kids are easier to persuade to wear helmets nowadays because they watch the XGames and see snowboarders and skateboarders wearing them.

It’s not dorky to wear a helmet anymore. It’s cool.