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General Climbing Discussion

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Wearing helmets 21-Nov-2005 At 1:31:19 PM shmalec

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Quite a few interesting comments here.

One I'd like to take up. If you always wear a helmet you can't claim that it doesn't assist you in taking on a risky situation. If you were just as happy to climb it unhelmeted then you wouldn't wear it at all. So yes, I admit, I wear a helmet and it helps me take on the risks of climbing, just like ropes and pro. If I stopped, I would probably feel uncomfortable at least for a while. But I doubt my level of acceptable "helmeted" risk is noticeably greater than those of most unhelmeted climbers.

I guess like wearing helmets in cars the difference in overall risk may be very small. But as I'm used to wearing it, I don't really care.

Would I climb the same if I had developed a habit of not wearing a helmet early on? This would imply a slightly higher level of acceptable risk. Dunno. Still pondering that one. Certainly in an alpine environment there is no question that helmets make a difference.