Ski resorts struggle with requiring kids to wear helmets

Lori Farmer and her family were just beginning a ski vacation in Aspen, Colo., in February when she got the call every parent dreads: Her 9-year-old son, Ryan, had been in a ski accident and was being airlifted to the hospital.

She and her husband, Don, were hopeful as they raced to the hospital because they knew their son had been wearing a helmet.

“There’s a lot of things you can’t protect your children from,” said Farmer, of North Carolina, “but as a parent, whatever you can do, you should.”

Their insistence may have saved their son’s life.

“We walked in, and there was a scared kid in a neck brace with blood on his face,” she said. “He had a fracture in his nose, but that was all. Noses heal. Brains don’t always.”

Leonie Arguetty, a 5-year-old from Wellington, Fla., wasn’t as lucky. Leonie, who was not wearing a helmet, skied into a tree during lessons at Aspen Ski School. She died of a head injury.

Her death, as well as the jarring statistics (the proportion of skiing and snowboarding head injuries is higher in children than in any other age group), have spurred new helmet regulations at several resorts -- most in Colorado -- and others are considering them.

Helmet use by skiers and snowboarders could prevent or reduce the severity of 44% of head injuries to adults and 53% of head injuries to children younger than 15, according to a 1998 study by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The study also showed that helmet use could prevent about 11 skiing- and snowboarding-related deaths annually.

Aspen, the first Colorado resort to act, began requiring helmets for ski school students 6 and younger just a month after Arguetty’s fatal accident. This season, all children 12 and younger who are enrolled in Aspen’s ski and snowboard schools are required to wear one.

Vail will follow Aspen’s lead this season, requiring helmets for children 14 and younger in ski school. The new regulation will be in effect at all Vail Resorts properties: Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone in Colorado and Heavenly in California. At Vail Resorts, parents can opt out of the helmet requirement by signing a waiver. Colorado’s Crested Butte Mountain Resort and Powderhorn resorts have announced that helmets will be mandatory for all kids 12 and younger participating in the resorts’ ski school programs.

“The accident at Aspen pushed us along, but this is an issue we’ve been looking at for a long time,” said Bill Jensen, mountain operations manager for Vail Associates. “There’s been more and more research in the past five years that points toward helmets as the way to go.”

But some California resorts are reluctant to mandate the protective headgear. Officials at Snow Summit, Mammoth, Northstar-at-Tahoe and Squaw Valley say the resorts have decided to let individuals choose what is best for themselves and their children.

Although many resorts follow the National Ski Areas Assn.’s guideline that recommends helmets, some resorts don’t feel comfortable even with that. Snow Summit, for example, doesn’t even rent helmets.

“Mandating their use, even having them for rent, exposes resorts to liability,” said Dick Kun, president of Snow Summit. “I think we are a long way from mandating helmet use [in California].”

As few as five and as many as 16 people have died in ski-related accidents in California each year, said Bob Roberts, executive director of California Ski Industries Assn.

“I don’t think any of those accidents would have turned out differently if the individual was wearing a helmet,” Roberts said. “There is such a variety of causes behind these accidents that there isn’t one thing we can point to and say, ‘Ah-ha, that’s the cause.’ So here helmet use isn’t a real burning issue.”

Some also criticize helmets for impeding hearing and question whether a helmet will protect them in a collision.

“The short answer is, a helmet is the safest and best protection we have,” says Dr. Michael Pietrzak, executive director of the International Brain Injury Assn. “By skiing in control and following the other rules of the skier’s responsibility code, most accidents can be avoided. And that’s the ideal: never having to need the helmet.”

If you choose to buy a helmet, here are some tips from www.LidsOnKids.org, a National Ski Areas Assn. Web site:

When buying a ski/snowboard helmet, make sure you buy one designed for recreational snow sports.

Read the helmet manufacturer’s information and learn about the level of protection the helmet will provide. All models do not provide the same level of protection.

The most important consideration when purchasing a helmet is the fit. It should not impede hearing or vision. A helmet is not a piece of equipment that a child should grow into. If a helmet doesn’t fit correctly, it may not perform to its ability in case of accident.

When shopping for a helmet, take your goggles or borrow a pair that matches your own from the shop. Look for a helmet that is engineered to work well with goggles or that integrates goggles. It’s important for a helmet to work with goggles and glasses to maintain vision, air flow and comfort.

Make sure the helmet conforms to a ski/snowboard helmet standard (Common European Norm, American Society of Testing and Materials and/or Snell). Ask an experienced ski shop associate to assist you in identifying the best brand for your head shape and confirm a proper fit.

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Jane Engle is on vacation. Chryss Cada is a freelance journalist based in Colorado. Comments and suggestions are welcome, but we cannot respond individually to letters and calls. Write Travel Insider, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012, or e-mail travel@latimes.com.