Helmets for Snow Tubing?

I'll tell you this--at O. birthday party at a snow tubing place here, I saw O. kid take a WALLOP to the head--he should have had a helmet on!

The summit has helmets for $5-$8 for daily rental.

When you park in the tubing parking lot... go across the street and up the zig zag walkway. The little building immediately in front of you is the rental area.

HOWEVER... If anyone has a skate helmet... that's all ski & snowboard helmets are. With ear warmers. My son's ears get hot, so we just use his skate helmet. You're right... bike helmets don't protect the right way, and often can create a serious injury (the pokey ends getting caught in the snow and yanking on the neck = bad juju. Skate/ski/board helmets are rounded and cover the entire skull so the energy is deflected away from the head and neck).

Helmets aren't required on the mountains, but they're strongly encouraged!

I'll be honest, for sledding we've only ever used regular winter hats for the head. I'm always more nervous about the other body parts getting injured since those were always what my friends and I injured.

When I was dating my husband we went sledding at Wesleyan where they have this huge hill that everyone in town and on campus sleds on. It had iced up and people made ramps and the snow was deep but compact. There was a whole crowd of us sledding at night.

Well, I should have put padding on my backside because I broke my coxic (sp?) umm... tailbone from the toboggan bumping and me falling and sliding down on the icy slopes. I also sprained a wrist.

There wasn't anything to sled into. No trees, no boulders, nothing. Just a big hill. Banging heads was unlikely. But I suppose you could get ski helmet.... thingies.

Hi! I am a HUGE helmet supporter. And you should hear my 18 yr old son's comments on non-helmet users. That said--- Call the tubing place. While they generally don't require them (it's a self-protective insurance thing) all the places near us offer them free for little kids and/or for rent. So check and see if they have them. If they don't call a couple of rental places and see what they say. Oh, tell the kids it will keep their heads warm, they are great for that too!

my vote is always for "safety 1st".

I might be in the minority here.... We just went tubing last weekend and did not wear helmets. Actually, no one tubing had them on, and I would say it was about 50/50 for the skiers. The tubing was extremely mild. You go down the hill, in your own lane, and there is absolutely nothing to run into. If I were you, I'd get there and check out the hill. Then rent a helmet if you think it's needed. As far as I can see, tubing is totally different than skiing, where you can actually run into a tree (or a big chairlift pole!) Have fun :)

Would bike helmets even fit over their winter hats?
I wouldn't try to smush them onto their heads over a hat-it would interfere with the way the helmet was designed to fit and would probably provide only a false sense of security.

Before, I would have said nah, they'll be fine. We grew up in NJ, sledding, etc. However, now that I have my own kids and see what happened to Natasha Richardson, I would say better safe than sorry. Sometimes you don't get a second chance. No regrets, have fun (with helmets)!! Smart mom, not outcast. Don't let it be the focus of the trip.

I've seen both -- kids wearing helmets and Kidz without, so I think it's your preference. But I don't know for certain if the mountain has any requirements. If you're worried, I do think they rent helmets for little kids as young as 3 or 4.