I hope you have been having an awesome winter! In Tahoe, the winter started out great, with December and January dumping some amazing powder all over our mountains. I love it when the same trails you hike in the summer turn into a frosty winter playground. I have definitely been taking advantage of it and trying to get in my riding time as much as I can.

When it comes to riding, you might say that I am more old school. This is my 20th season riding (where did the time go?) and growing up, I have NEVER worn a helmet on the slopes. It just wasn’t something that we did as kids and when helmets started to grow in popularity over the past few years, I never adopted the new thinking that one might actually just save your life. In fact, I have been pretty anti-helmet whenever someone suggests that I wear one.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, there wasn’t any snow and me and the guy decided to go play a round of golf in the valley. Being that we are a wee bit on the competitive side, we decided we needed a bet. If I won, he had to shave his baby (aka his one-year-old beard). If he won, I had to buy a brain bucket and wear it every time I ride. For some reason, he doesn’t like the idea of having to teach me the alphabet all over again.

I could give you the play-by-play of our game, but I will spare you the details. To make a long story short, he ended up ahead of me by four strokes. I still don’t know how that happened since I am obviously a much better golfer than him ;), but it did. Skid lid it is.

In my quest to find a helmet that is the least lame, bulky one there is, I checked out a local shop and tried some on. I really liked the Bern helmets. The Smith were okay, too. But, I ended up settling on an Anon helmet because of the way it felt on my over-sized head. Yeah. I have a big head. So what? It’s for all that brain power.

Anyways, the one that they had at the shop was purple and I wanted something a little more incognito. I am not ready to completely embrace the helmet head just yet with a bright and flashy color. So, I decided to order mine from Backcountry.com. They have a good selection of colors and free shipping, but unfortunately, nothing is on sale yet this time of year. The helmet ran $109.95, which is pretty standard compared to some of the other helmets I was looking at that I found comfortable and not totally dorky.

We just so happened to get some new snow last week, so I was excited to get on the mountain this weekend, even with a helmet strapped to my head. I have to say, that all-in-all, my first helmet experience wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I tend to overheat when I snowboard and I was afraid that I would hate the extra confinement on my skull. It was even on the warmer side, but having the dome lid didn’t make me overheat. I took out the removable ear muff things and had a Buff headband on underneath. The ventilation is great and the helmet is light enough that I didn’t feel bogged down. This helmet also has a Boa system that allows you to adjust the sizing to fit your head perfectly.

I don’t really have many cons related to this helmet other than it is a little on the bulkier side. My Dragon googles are giant and still had a hard time wrapping around the wide helmet. Other than that, the only other things that bothered me are related to helmets in general: if you have an itch on your head, you can’t scratch it and if you want to hang out on the deck for a beer or apres ski, you have to carry a beanie in your pocket or wear it under the helmet, which might make it too hot.

At the end of the day, I guess I will have to say, safety first, kids! If you are in the market for a new helmet, or thinking about trading in your beanie for a skid lid like me, I would suggest you check out the Anon Wren helmet. It’s light, has good ventilation, and is somewhat okay looking. Do you have a favorite helmet? Share below and have fun out there!