Helmets -- do you wear one?

I never used to wear one, until I had a friend deck from about 20 feet up. Luckily, he just missed a rock with his head, and landed on the stacked rope. He got away with just a minor scrape on his scalp, but it could have been much worse. I wear one now; and all my climbing buddies are reminded to remind me if I set off without it. The reason I wear it so religiously now, is because I have a young climber on the way, and I would like to be there for his/her birth.
Cheers!

Ice climbs- Yes. Mountaineering of any kind- Yes. Trad leads in unfamiliar places- Yes. Toprope just about anywhere that the area is clean of stuff- No. Overhanging sport leads(hmm, that sounds like just about any sport lead at the Red)..No. Belay most sport climbs- No. Belaying at a vertical cliff- Yes.

I have considered wearing one but i think it would restrict me for some reason. so i dont wear a helmet when i climb but when i go to learn trad, i will definately consider wearing one.

When I was on climbing team i had to wear one when I was with my coach.... apparently he fell and had a concussion one time and i think his helmet saved him or someting, so he always wanted us to wear them. But now I don't wear one at all, but I can totally see the point in wearing one! I know the risks.....

It's crazy when a sport has all these risks and we take them for granted, just climbing as the majority does. Many a climbing death where a helmet would have made a differnce. Skiing was a helmet-free environment except for the racer at one time. You had that fancy expensive hat to show off anyway. Then in the early 90's, back to back were the Sonny Bono and some Kennedy family dude who both hit trees and died on the ski slopes. Right after, the helmet sales took off. I now ski in one all the time, just cuz it makes sense when schussing down a hill at 45 mph. Snow and ice are hard landing areas.
About 10 years ago, there were several kids right here in Illinois that missed the landing pit for pole vault and died. Their skills have increased to the level that they are going waaay up, much more than vaulters did before. So now alot of schools require a special pole vault helmet in order to compete. It's pretty lame, lightweight and not of much good I think, but hey, that makes all the lawyers and school boards happy so the kids gotta wear them now. Never saw such a device years ago. Might as well just haul out my old fibreglass Joe Brown helmet and use it for all sports combined. So what if it weighs like 3 pounds. I need a 20 inch neck anyway, don't I?

Everything except top rope and bouldering I wear one. Sometimes I forget but I definantly do not try to.

Bouldering? With a great pad and a couple spotters, yeah I guess so. Otherwise that activity has more chance of a head landing than most other climbs do.

If im on an overhung wall, im not goona too much worry about hitting my head. when im on a slab though, and a hard one, then im definately goona consider wearing a helmet.

Exacta-mundo 'bum.

Rarely, but always on Ice or lose rock.
Peace

I bought my first helmet last year and should have owned one long ago. I only wear it on multi-pitch trad but last weekend I was climbing the Headache in Zion, one of the cleanest multi-pitch climbs in the park. I didn't put on my helmet to belay my partner up the first pitch and when he was about thirty feet up I glanced down at the rope and WACK!, was hit on the top of the head by a large golf ball sized piece of sandstone. My buddies foot must have knocked it off, luckily it didn't break the skin, and yes...I quickly put my helmet on and climbed "The Headache" with a headache. hahaha...wear yur lids kids!

Bought my first skid lid while in the Tetons in the 70's. Broke it in well the next day during an ice-snow-rock solo mountaineering ascent. It bore many scars from that fateful day, all from a part airborne, part tumbling 300ft fall. Me wool knickers took the worst of that one, if you know what I mean....

Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

i bouldered with a guy in the valley who didnt take his bike helmate off the whol 2 hours he was bouldering, does that count.

i only do if iths noit a very clean route

I have always thought of my helmet as being more useful as a belayer than a climber. There are some places where we ALWAYS wear one cuz of notoriously loose rock. Places like HCR where nobody is topping out and everything is single pitch, we dont wear them. to be honest I dont like to wear it, it is cumbersome. But rule of thumb is, if people are walking around up above, or if its generally loose, I wear it. That pretty much applies to all multi pitch.

my home trad has tons of hikers walking trails above all the toprope routes, but it has become pretty clean of loose rock. yet there is always the knucklehead who will find one and toss it over the edge with no thought of consequences. After you do a few multi-trad routes, you find that helmet as a natural part of your head any day out on the rocks.

I climb multi pitch trad all the time w/o a Helmet. I tend to climb in the more less used areas of which we have a ton of.

Yeah, there are some places that are so climbed that any loose rock got removed long ago. But don't forget the other reason for a helmet: falling and bopping your head into a wall can do damage too. If a hold breaks, you can really fall unexpectedly.

allways wear helmet if I'm leading or outside. but never indoors, dunno why really sim risks

Always when I set out to do rock climbing. However, I rarely carry my helmet when alpine climbing and that has been a mistake in a few cases where we had to climb some loose class 4 rock. I was hit in the hand once and it hurt like hell, but no permanent damage, and twice i have seen others hit, but only slightly injured. The problem is, I suppose, that we don't plan on doing any rock climbing, and then we see this beautiful and obvious rock scramble and it is impossible to resist. I believe it is good advice to wear a helmet. Someone could drop a piece of hardwear on you even when you least expect it!

"A good scare is worth more to a man than good advice."
----Ed Howe American journalist