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Topic Date User

Omiros, 7b fall 20-Jun-2015 At 5:53:23 PM Sabu

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On 20/06/2015 Rawpowa! wrote:
>Helmets may be rated based on a rockfall scenario but they will still help
>in a fall like that. Yes you may still have a head injury but the severity
>should be lessened.

This.

>As for this specific incident, the problem was that the climber allowed
>the rope to get outside his leg, resulting in it getting caught in the
>rope during the fall. Wearing a helmet wouldn't have prevented that, and
>if the climber had landed on his head in this fall, even if he was wearing
>a helmet, he would have almost certainly suffered brain injury, a broken
>neck, or death. A climber who didn't let their feet get wrapped in the
>rope would have suffered a broken ankle at absolute worst. Helmets are
>not a panacea for bad technique.

Of course helmets aren't the magic bullet, no one is disputing that and there are clearly a number of factors to this fall, chiefly the leg behind the rope and the hard catch. Helmets cannot prevent anything from occurring but they certainly have the ability to lesson the consequences when shit goes wrong and given those consequences focus on the head and brain, anything to lessen them is extremely worth it.

The take home message for me from this video is that even in what is normally perceived to be a safer environment to climb without a helmet (overhanging sport) there is still a significant risk that warrants a need for them.