The new Alpine Shield from Wild Country means two helmets for the price of one ...
You may think that if your climbing helmet comes apart and splits into two pieces then it’s (well past) time to bin it and buy a new one. Well, that may be true, but then again, it might not …
Wild Country have just announced the world’s first modular climbing helmet in their 2009 range and it’s basically two helmets for the price of one. There’s a lightweight, protective core, which you can wear by itself as a lightweight summer climbing helmet, and when the going gets rough there’s a protective shield to attach above it.
It’s called the Alpine Shield and this might, after all, be what you have in your hands if your helmet splits into two pieces. No need for a trip to the dump after all then …
The technology
Why do you need two layers, when the inner core has passed safety tests on its own? Well, lightweight summer climbing helmets use materials like EPS (Expanded PolyStyrene), which fit snugly around your head and function a bit like a cycling helmet. If you’re hit by a single impact – for example, you swing forward and head butt the rock face in a less-than-friendly manner – then the padding crumples to absorb the shock.
That works fine if you’re only going to clonk your head once, but the helmet won’t be as effective if its knocked repeatedly. It’s also less effective against sharp objects, like shards of falling ice, and there’ve been plenty of those flying around recently. You can buy sturdier winter helmets for this kind of thing, but as they’re heavier, summer climbers don’t always take too kindly to them.
Two helmets or one?
So far so good if you only want to go summer sport climbing, or you don’t believe in mountains unless they’re buried under three feet of snow – you can buy a specialist winter or summer helmet and Bob’s your uncle. But if you like both – and many of us do – then you might be in for a double purchase, which isn’t very credit crunch-friendly. Until now …
Wild Country are marketing the Alpine Shield as the one-helmet solution to this problem, as they reckon it does two jobs for the price of one. Whether that’s the case is partly a matter of price and we’re not sure yet what the final price will be, but the figure £60 was hanging around at last year’s outdoor trade show. That’s not the cheapest helmet on the market, but it’s not the priciest either, and given the new technology it doesn’t sound at all bad.
According to Wild Country, this is “the helmet for the cross season climber - the modern athlete who climbs hard fast and light, on rock and alpine - and … [is] versatile enough to be used on extreme rock and waterfall ice.”
We’ll let you know if we agree once we’ve tried it.
360 degree protection
The Alpine Shield may be the most radical addition to Wild Country’s collection, but there’s more where that came from. On the helmet front, they’ve introduced the 360 - that’s degrees, not feet, metres, newtons, calories per chocolate bar, or any of the other important measurements in climbing.
It’s based on the idea that most helmets give good protection from impacts from above, but not such sturdy protection around the sides of the head. So it’s big on protection at the front, rear, and sides, if you’re feeling super safety-conscious – never a bad idea when you’re clinging to a rocky ledge by your fingertips.
And as it isn’t all about safety, there’s an abundance of chalk, and a nice new toothbrush for your bouldering problem, and plenty more besides …
Full details are available on Wild Country’s website.
