Ski Helmets?...Useful?Uncomfortable?....What's your views?

Under promoted or over hyped? Useful? Uncomfortable? Another marketing con? Essential for safety? You could help a new study being conducted into people's attitudes and beliefs into wearing one.

It's being compiled by The University of Surrey.

It's findings will not give a definite view of whether wearing a helmet makes you safer, and if so by how much, but we reckon at PlanetSKI that it will make for some interesting reading.

It is about attitudes and beliefs.

Each question has a rating scale of 1-5 depending on how much you agree or disagree with the statement or question.

First it asks your level and how many weeks you have been skiing or snowboarding for.

Then it asks whether you think wearing a helmet is necessary, about social pressure to wear one and whether you believe it makes you ski or snowboard in a different way.

The vexed question of compulsion is also tackled in amongst many other questions and areas.

Compulsory for kidsCompulsory The researchers say it takes 20 minutes to complete.

Here at PlanetSKi we did it in under 10 minutes and would strongly recommend you contribute your thoughts to the debate.

The research is being done by Mary Ondrusz who is a regular competitor on the FIS Masters circuit and her husband, Tom, has coached many of the UK's leading young skiers at UK ski centres.

There is precious little accurate research into wearing a helmet and it should make a valuable contribution to the debate.

The survey is about attitudes and beliefs, rather than hard facts.

A recent Candian survey, conducted over 10 years, concluded that people are 33% safer with a helmet on, than without one.

It appeard in The Canadian Medical Association Journal.

At one end of the spectrum of views people are quite evangelical about wearing a helmet and, at the other end, some say they actually increase the risk of injury.

The most recent research in North America concluded that wearing a helmet does not increase the risk of neck injuries.

A handful of ski areas in North America are extending the level of compulsion and in California legislation is currently going through The Senate to make it compulsory for everyone under 18 year of age.

Some welcome this sort of law as it promotes safety, others fear the onward march of the nanny state.

In Europe children are made to wear a helmet in certain circumstances, but any form of widespread compulsion in Europe seems unlikely according to this story we wrote last season here on PlanetSKI.

For links to the survey and more on this story check out......http://www.planetski.eu/news/1892

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Heather Mills Sets Her Sights on Sochi 2014!!

The former model, activist & charity campaigner has a new priority on her list, which is to compete in the next Winter Paralympic Games.

Heather Mills lost part of her left leg in a motorcycle incident in 1993. However, being the strong-willed person that she is, she has shown the world that being an amputee doesn't stop you from fulfilling your dreams. Mills proved this to us after taking part in TV shows Dancing with the Stars in 2007 and Dancing on Ice early 2010.

However, most recently Mills participated in Disability Snowsports UK's National Skiathon in May joining teams in Milton Keynes at the SNO!zone indoor real snow slope, having to complete 666 runs in six hours.

Reading from the Sunday Express' online article it was the experience that gave Heather Mills the inspiration to set her goals to joining in the Winter Paralympics in Sochi in 2014, where she would become a part of the Great Britain Paralympic Alpine Skiing Team.

"If I manage to compete, It would be phenomenal - very inspiring for all the kids that I counsel"

Express.co.uk, Heather Mills.