> They used to be unheard of in skiing unless you were a racer and now are probably worn by most--especially kids.

Yea this one surprised me recently. I learned to downhill ski as a kid in the 80s, and never once saw anyone with a helmet. I obviously gave it up when I moved to Florida, but now, decades later I’m living somewhere I can go skiing again and was shocked to see so many people (even adults!) wearing them. The group from work I was with was equally shocked that I wasn’t wearing one. They were also shocked that I was wearing jeans and not one of those hundreds-of-dollars skiing outfits, but whatever. I mean I guess helmets make sense but it just feels unnatural, as unnatural as bicycle helmets (which we also did not wear back in the 80s) feel to me. I’ll never get used to wearing one of them either.

> They used to be unheard of in skiing unless you were a racer and now are probably worn by most--especially kids.

What, seriously?

What kind of skiing are you talking about? I've never once seen anyone wear a helmet for cross-country skiing, and I wouldn't think it's necessary anyway. For one thing it's usually walking pace, but also snow is soft.

Presumably grandparent means downhill. Twenty years ago, you basically couldn't buy an adult-sized helmet for alpine skiing even if you wanted to. These days, it's weird not to have one.

I think the change was due to some high profile deaths from tree collisions in the late 90s.

As I recall, racers have worn helmets for decades but it was pretty rare for recreational skiers until 15-20 years ago. I think another factor is that helmets for a lot of kids' activities have become more or less expected, especially among demographics who do downhill skiing as a family. And, if you're telling your kid they have to wear a helmet, a lot of parents probably feel they sort of have to as well.

ADDED: I also wonder if the rise of snowboarding played a role because backward falls where it's easy to hit your head on ice is probably more common than with skis.

I don't downhill ski much these days but I did ski at Squaw Valley a couple times recently because of an event there. And I was definitely an outlier in not wearing a helmet. (In my partial defense, I do wear a hat with impact resistant material sewn in (D3O) and I'm not exactly banging down moguls through the trees these days.)

I thought it was obvious I was talking about downhill skiing. Of course people don't wear helmets for cross-country even for racing.