A descriptive study was conducted involving a convenience
sample of pediatric snowsport participants recruited via public and
private schools participating in snowsports programs, including
two schools whose weekly sport was snowsports, as well as via
contacts known to the researchers. Participants were involved in
resort-based lift-accessed snowsport activities of alpine skiing,
snowboarding and telemarking. Participants completed a questionnaire
providing demographic data, snowsport experience,
protective equipment usage and preferred snowsport terrain. For
each data collection session the participants were issued with a
Giro Nine helmet modified for research purposes, to include HIT
System technology (HITS) by Simbex (Fig. 1). These helmets were
certified under ASTM F-2040 (ASTM International, 2000). HITS uses
six accelerometers deployed against the head to model head (not
helmet) accelerations over 10 g (Fig. 1) and has been used in other
sports such as American football and ice hockey to measure head
accelerations (Greenwald et al., 2008)