Dear FasterSkier.com readers,
FasterSkier.com fully supports and recommends the use of helmets while rollerskiing. We have, over the years, posted a number of safety related articles encouraging helmet use and other safety precautions while training and especially while rollerskiing. As coaches, we normally require that the athletes we are working with wear helmets while rollerskiing.
However, we sometimes use photos where the athletes have choosen to not use helmets. These athletes are adults and they have made this decision after considering their abilities and the environment they are rollerskiing in. This might be in uphills on roads closed to traffic, in gated communities, limit access roads with very low speed limits, on bike-paths or similar.
Whatever the athletes' choice, we believe that the beneficial aspects of these photos (illustrating technique, for example) make them worth publishing.
We anticipate that we will get readers comments when we occasionally post photos of skiers without helmets. This is to be expected and even encouraged. By all means, use helmets and keep encouraging others to use helmets. But also understand that we feel it is important to post pictures of elite skiers, regardless of their own personal choice on wearing a helmet.
Torbjorn Karlsen
Park City, Utah
