crickleymal
10 years ago
From Thursday Lidl are selling skiing/snowboarding helmets for £20 which apparently meet some sort of standard. They look like they could make a cheap caving helmet so long as you don't mind your ears being covered and a little bit of ingenuity to attach the light.
Malc.
Rusted and ropey, Dog eared old copy
Vintage and classic or just plain Jurassic
All words to describe me.
legendrider
10 years ago
better than nowt I suppose, but lest we forget, a helmet is a fundamental piece of safety equipment and manufacturers like Petzl (for instance) have to test rigorously. No doubt Lidl snowboard helmets too are rigorously tested, but against the same standard? Doubt it.

Having said that, falling rocks are a great leveller!

my 10 penn'orth

MARK

festina lente[i]
RJV
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10 years ago
Wouldn't go near the helmets but at £6.99 can see the attraction of the hooded fleeces at this time of year when getting changed on some God forsaken moor.

Presuming of course that you don't mind the odd finger of asian infant sewn into the seams of your clothing...
crickleymal
10 years ago
Maybe I'm old fashioned as I just use industrial helmets underground and I still see people caving using those old brown helmets.
Malc.
Rusted and ropey, Dog eared old copy
Vintage and classic or just plain Jurassic
All words to describe me.
legendrider
10 years ago
Custom and usage doesn't automatically make it right. I'm not having a pop at anyone here, but all helmets do have a useful life; after a number of years they become brittle (like your skull) and potentially less effective in an impact situation.

Unless you're Zaphod Beeblebrox, you've only the one head so might as well take care of it because it has to last. ;D

MARK
festina lente[i]
RJV
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10 years ago
To veer slightly off course, I would love to know if it's still possible to buy these helmets new? They were popular for a while and sold under a few different names, I think this was Moutain Technology. Used a lot by centres I think.They were a much better fit than the narrow Petzl nonsense that's about nowadays.
🔗Personal-Album-988-Image-97703[linkphoto]Personal-Album-988-Image-97703[/linkphoto][/link]
Roger L
10 years ago
Helmets should last for ages under ground as there is no ultraviolet rays to break them down. Unlike being used on building sites every day. Don't keep in back window of car!
Mine Lectures & Walks available for around Huddersfield
RJV
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10 years ago
The rivets that attach the cradle to the helmet on mine are starting to rust away.
royfellows
10 years ago
Maybe its just me thats funny about some things, like tyres on my car, but...

Years ago a ladder came away in Caplecleugh which I happened to be on at the time. I fell 12 feet into the horse level on my back, which luckily had a couple of feet of water and no partially submerged rocks.

The ladder came down like a spear, luckily again it missed my chest by inches.

My head struck the side of the level, but luckily my Joe Brown helmet protected me although it split.

Years later I showed 'Heb' the spot and there was still bits of blue off the helmet to be seen.

There are some really cheap helmets on the Hong Kong sites, I have just sent for one.
:lol::lol::lol:
My avatar is a poor likeness.
crickleymal
10 years ago
I take the view that a helmet is to stop you banging your head. If there's a rockfall a lot of the stuff would hit your body not just your head.
Malc.
Rusted and ropey, Dog eared old copy
Vintage and classic or just plain Jurassic
All words to describe me.
sinker
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10 years ago
"crickleymal" wrote:

I take the view that a helmet is to stop you banging your head. If there's a rockfall a lot of the stuff would hit your body not just your head.



What if you fall and hit your head twice? The first blow knocks your helmet off, the second kills you??!
Having said that, I'm with you on this one....I have a very nice, expensive, super comfy builders helmet which has served well for years....it has a chin strap that I use for "moderate SRT" and I have a Petzl Vertex Vent for heavy-duty SRT. Needless to say I rarely wear the Petzl. My personal opinion is that the builders hat is more likely to protect me from falling lumps of stone than the Petzl is....and I consider falling rocks to be a more common hazard in the mines I frequent than bumping my head whilst on a rope. Likewise in work.
I appreciate that this goes against all good practice :surrender: but hey....:)
Yma O Hyd....
RJV
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10 years ago
I think at times that there might be a slight tendency to over-dramatise the dangers we face in mines. Falling rocks & SRT disasters are a possibility but going arse-over-tit on a slab of wet slate or shale seems a more mundane but likely one. I've done it and I've seen plenty others do it. Crack the back of your head without a helmet there to protect you then it can kill you, happens in fights outside nightclubs and what have you all the time.
derrickhand
10 years ago
I have a new briwn helmet! Issued to me on an American pipelay barge last year... I Don't do SRT....
plus ca change, plus c'est le meme chose
crickleymal
10 years ago
Ok builders helmet with a Y chinstrap so it shouldn't come off.
Malc.
Rusted and ropey, Dog eared old copy
Vintage and classic or just plain Jurassic
All words to describe me.
Horsemaddad
10 years ago
Just bought a new 'Sentinel' helmet off eBay. Basically, it looks like a builders' helmet but has a lamp bracket. My old one is dated 1982, it is a bit battered but has never seen any UV as when it's not u/g it's stored in a windowless garage. Only problem is, it came without a Y-chin strap.
As I see it, a helmet's main function is to protect you from catching your head on a low roof or to protect your head from small rocks falling out of the roof or dislodged from above in ladderways. If you get hit by anything of a reasonable size that has fallen any appreciable distance you are probably dead anyway whether you are wearing one or not. Just my view. Oh...the other function is as a place to fix your light! Colin.
Colin
legendrider
10 years ago
Whilst the UV component in light undoubtedly contributes to and accelerates deterioration, there are other factors which are not readily apparent.

Plasticisers, which help keep the polymer flexible, degrade over time. Oxygen attacks the molecules on the outer surfaces, generating free radicals, which deplete the inhibitors which are there to mop them up.

An effective demonstration of this phenomenon is the bits of white two-core bell wire which are everywhere in Grove Rake. After 30 years in the dark they're stiff and brittle!!

Just treat yourself to a new lid every decade or so and remember you gets what you pays for! :)
festina lente[i]
Horsemaddad
10 years ago
Yep. I guess that sums it up well Mark. A one in a decade expense isn't too bad. My problem is I don't like throwing anything away!
Colin.
Colin
exspelio
10 years ago
Most of this discussion seems to be around the plastic based helmets, anyone any thoughts about the reinforced fibre ones like Texolex?, the only damage I have experienced with one of these was caused by excessive sideways pressure in storage.
Always remember, nature is in charge, get it wrong and it is you who suffers!.
christwigg
10 years ago
"legendrider" wrote:


An effective demonstration of this phenomenon is the bits of white two-core bell wire which are everywhere in Grove Rake. After 30 years in the dark they're stiff and brittle



.....and used to tie on most of the ladders it would appear.....
legendrider
10 years ago
.... when we ran out of cable ties... 😉
festina lente[i]
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