The death of actress Natasha Richardson has brought up the debate about wearing helmets while skiing. At first, when the news came out, at the end of each story there was a line that said “she was not wearing a helmet.“ I thought to myself….who wears a helmet skiing in the first place??

We usually always get an email or two when reporting if a rider was wearing a helmet or not during a motorcycle accident. Most of the emails say that the information is irrelevant (which I highly disagree with).

But when did helmets become common place on the ski slopes for skiers? I know a lot of snowboarders wear them. But would you wear one while skiing?