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Own a Meteor Helmet?? be afraid

Lee

19-Dec-2005
7:20:44 PM

My Mums head

This was the lovely result of a petzl meteor helmet falling apart with only a very light impact.
She was abseiling at the time, over a funny angled edge and not being so experienced she ended up
spinning around and hitting the back of the helmet on the edge.
This broke the section of bear polystyrene into 3 peices leaving her head unprotected. the rock ripped a
massive flap of skin almost off her head, there was an extreme amount of bleeding immediatly.
In this situation it was fortunate that she and my dad were virtually next to the car and could drive the
short distance home to wait for an ambulance.
The ambulance drivers were nice enough to take her and my Dad on a scenic trip to Katoomba hospital
from Hazelbrook only to be told they could not possibly stitch it up there and would have to go back down
the mountains to nepean hospital.
The bandage needed to stop the bleeding was almost tight enough for her to pass out.
She spent the night in hospital and got 14 stitch's, and could go home the next day.
It was very suprising that this could happen with a helmet on, be it a crap helmet.I can think of lots of
places where I wouldn't like to have that sort of thing happen. maybe i'll wear a helmet occasionally now...
one with a little more than bear polystyrene as protection though.
I'll get some pics of the helmet.
Lee

dalai

19-Dec-2005
8:22:52 PM

Thats a pretty serious scalp wound. Glad to hear you mum is okay Lee!!


DaCrux

19-Dec-2005
11:37:00 PM

Jesus! that is some pretty dodgy stitching! Put some steri-strips in between the stitches otherwise your mum will end up with massive scars. Hope she’s ok.


neats

20-Dec-2005
7:47:56 AM

Did she pass out just after it happened? it would have been a massive shock...I'm glad she is ok though.


IdratherbeclimbingM9

20-Dec-2005
4:53:48 PM

This is an enlightening post Lee.
What were your mums thoughts after the helmet 'failed' her? I hope it has not turned her off the climbing/abseiling experience, and trust she recovers quickly.

Sounds like polycarbonate or fibreglass helmets are the go?

Lee

20-Dec-2005
5:52:30 PM

Abit dissapointed in it, not really knowing that it was a particularly light weight one though.
She is not to deterred from doing it herself however she has worried alot more about Ben(my brother) and I more in the last 5 weeks than the last 10 years.
Obviously it was never meant to be a knock around helmet and still served a purpose.
If your wearing a helmet climbing, polycarbonate looks at the moment to be the way to go.


Rich

20-Dec-2005
10:35:51 PM

Terrible but she's very lucky it wasn't worse.
You might consider drawing the attention of petzl's distributor to this thread.
I was considering getting one of these helmets a while ago (i started a thread about i think) but decided against it due to it not really being suited to rockfall (nor puncture). Ended up getting a BD Half Dome..
Hope your mum gets better quick.


Sabu

21-Dec-2005
10:00:23 AM

i'll second Dacrux's point about the stitching, 14 seems a bit few for a wound like that. glad she's ok though.

Lee

21-Dec-2005
10:51:45 AM

oops,no 14 inch's of laceration. about 25 stitch's, but maybe still not enough?


Phil Box

21-Dec-2005
11:26:59 AM

Lee, I took the liberty of linking this thread to rockclimbing.com. Check out the discussion so far.

http://www.rockclimbing.com/topic/103394

Bob Saki

21-Dec-2005
11:46:51 AM

feel really sorry for your mum mate
you and your dad must have had a hell of a fright.
I hope she recovers to get back out there again.


manacubus

21-Dec-2005
11:57:31 AM

Whoa! Hope your Mum is okay Lee and makes a quick recovery. Cuts to the head are always so bloody, but usually heal well for the same reason.

Lee

21-Dec-2005
2:34:38 PM

I could not be bothered signing up to another site so i'll say it again here, and retelling the reality that it
was in fact a LIGHT
impact as far as climbing and abseilling/rappellinging goes,
In which no accelaration downwards was involved, there was a short swing to the left about 1
meter(sarry guuys abouut 3 feet).
As far as the head wound goes imagine that not as an impact but as a scrape, which peeled the skin
back.
The issue with this helmet for this particular scenario is its bear section on the back with no plastic
coating that would have held the
broken foam together. Obviously helmets like cars are going to unusable after any sort of 'light, seamy
heavy impact' but the fact that the broken helmet's parts were falling to the ground at the time that it would
have been nice to have them protecting a little bit of scraping was a bit of a drag.
Not disputing operator error whatsoever, but in my opinion thats why one may wear a helmet??

We have no reason to tell anything but the situation, nor are we putting the blame on the helmet or petzl, I
believe that petzl have helped make a big step forward in helmet design in the last 6 or 7 years and just
pointing out one limitation with a helmet that they have since superceeded with the elios that would be
unlikly to, if in the same situation have the same result.


Sabu

21-Dec-2005
11:06:21 PM

On 21/12/2005 Lee wrote:
>oops,no 14 inch's of laceration. about 25 stitch's, but maybe still not
>enough?
hmmm thats better but still looks a bit too spread out to me.

chris

22-Dec-2005
7:36:49 AM

The helmet broke pretty easily by the sounds of it.... had it allready taken some prior impacts and been weakened or cracked? I would wonder if the helmet belonged to a guiding company.


Rich

22-Dec-2005
8:41:42 AM

surely no guiding co in their right mind would buy meteors for use by clients.. ?? ecrin roc or similar would be used, something hard and durable

Lee

22-Dec-2005
8:58:47 AM

yes no it wasn't a guiding co. helmet. Just family use, like all those times you've seen me out there using
one hey Chris?? In good condition.
Just happen to be the one scanario that didnt favour this design(rear impact)


Phil Box

22-Dec-2005
10:02:01 AM

Would it be possible to see the helmet i/e post up a pic of the broken pieces. Mebbe zoom in on the point of impact etc.

If you don`t mind Lee, I will copy paste and quote your post over to arcee.com in the aforementioned thread.


Rich

22-Dec-2005
5:46:13 PM

I was climbing with someone up at araps on the weekend and noted that his meteor had a part that had come out about the size of a matchbox at the back middle below the adjuster and there were also a couple of cracks in it that he hadn't noticed. he mentioned that the part below the adjuster was a similar issue in one of his friends meteors as well. I'd say if you own one, time for an upgrade.

Paul

24-Dec-2005
2:31:55 PM

Did the helmet have any stickers / markings on it which may have compromised its strength? How old was the helmet, had it recieved prolonged exposure to UV light?

Maybe you could send the helmet or photos to petzl so that they can improve future helmet designs.

Hope your mum is all right now

There are 33 messages in this topic.