Article by Jeff Creamer, with photos by Jeff and Steve Fassbinder.
What To Consider When Buying Packrafting Helmets
The world of protective helmets is vast, rapidly evolving and improving, complicated, and rightfully continues to diversify into sport-specific niches. Here are some of the key packraft-specific considerations for packafting helmet selection:
Why should I choose a whitewater-specific packrafting helmet?
Do all certified helmets provide the same protection?
Beyond certification/impact testing, what factors do I consider for helmet choice?
What is the Packrafter’s Dilemma, and how does that figure into safety gear selection?
The Packrafter's Dilemma: Safety vs. Weight
Let’s start by introducing (but not exploring yet) the idea of the Packrafter’s Dilemma: How do I balance maximizing safety and comfort with minimizing gear weight and bulk in a gear-intensive multi-sport like packrafting?
My short answer is this: Every gear decision can be influenced by the individual, the team, and the specific adventure, but it should always be a fully informed decision that stems from discussion with your team.
Why should I choose a whitewater-specific helmet?
Packrafters carrying their entire kit into the backcountry present themselves with a consideration unique within the whitewater world: Should I intentionally downgrade or leave behind some of my safety equipment to save weight and bulk? That is an uncomfortable but very real temptation that every backcountry packrafter at least considers for many pieces of their kit.
Despite my background in the river safety world, I am not going to fully avoid that issue by saying you should always bring the very best equipment available. For example, for roadside packrafting I always choose a high floatation Type V PFD, whereas in the backcountry I often go with a lighter weight Type III PFD even though situations where a rescue belt is critical may still exist.
In sum, I’m not saying you should avoid downgrading gear at all costs. Rather, I’ll explain how I approach those difficult decisions as a backcountry packrafter.
Risk Vs. Consequence: The Benefits of Whitewater Certified Helmets
For helmets specifically though, I almost always bring a high quality one with a whitewater certification. This stems from my take on the Risk (likelihood of a problem) – Consequence (impact of the problem) involved with head injuries. As opposed to a gear downgrade like a lighter weight sleeping bag in summer (Risk = very likely chilled overnight, Consequence = uncomfortable sleep), the Consequence of a head injury is very high. Many of us in the adventure sport world have friends and partners who have suffered from concussions or worse, and it is very real, very frightening, and very difficult to fully recover from.
Whitewater helmet design and certification, rightfully, have considerations distinct from other sport helmets. The style and frequency of head impacts is different for whitewater paddling compared to mountain biking, skiing, climbing, horse riding and football, for example. Compared to some other sports, whitewater paddlers tend to experience lower energy impacts because of low sit-height and the involvement of water. Contrast this with going over your handlebars headfirst onto a rock, crashing into a tree on bike or ski at high speed or a horse stomping on you.
But, if mountain biking exposes us to the potential for high speed crashes, and modern mountain bike helmets are required to meet rigorous standards, why should I worry about using mountain bike helmets in a lower speed environment like river travel?
Single Impact Helmets
Many bike helmets and climbing helmets are optimized to provide maximum protection for a single impact (and they usually do so better than a whitewater or football helmet). The tradeoff there is the type of foam or honeycomb structure that reduces head impact trauma the best is also the least resilient. designers made these helmets to permanently crumple on impact. And they do not protect well for repeated impacts.
Ask any kayaker how likely it is to only hit your head once when upside down/underwater.
I did not retire my above-pictured helmet because of the damage from many instances of scrapping and banging into rocks underwater. But rather because of its age. Even though the inside layer of this helmet is foam, it’s a type that regains its shape and retains its protective ability for repeated impacts.
However, many helmet materials especially foams degrade with time and environmental exposure, and the recommended retirement age from manufacturing date can be surprisingly short. In fact, it’s just three years for the one pictured above.
In whitewater situations, I am fairly likely to experience multiple head strikes in one swim. Plus I may be forced to continue paddling backcountry whitewater after a head impact. Thus, choosing a whitewater helmet rather than a single-impact helmet like many bike and climbing helmets is wise. High quality bike helmets are expensive, and beyond damaging my head I’d also prefer not to buy new helmets more often than necessary.
Do all certified helmets provide the same protection?
No. I prefer to think of helmet certifications as being the minimum bar. There is huge variation in how well different helmets protect you for direct (flat) or glancing (angled) impact with blunt vs. penetrating objects. It’s worth studying test results from venues like Virginia Tech’s Helmet Lab. Even though the relative ratings of different helmets and the style of impact testing may or may not apply well to the style of head impact you could receive while packrafting, a valuable takeaway for you as a shopper is how much variation there is between helmet models for reducing head impact, resulting from the variety of options there are in material choices, design and construction.
Beyond certification/impact testing, what factors do I consider for helmet choice?
As a paddler who has experienced many head impacts (but no injuries), impact certifications and test results are definitely something I personally consider when making packrafting helmet or other gear selection choices. There are several factors I also think about beyond those official criteria.
Everyone’s head and hair shape and size is different. Helmet fit for my specific head is something I view as critical. And some models just stay locked onto my head well whereas some models that work well for others just don’t have the adjustment style and shape to avoid shifting to the point where my forehead or sidehead becomes exposed. It’s obvious that a helmet with a higher test rating isn’t very useful if it can’t stay in position for me.
There are other group/situation safety considerations beyond just head impacts and fit. I personally gravitate towards helmets that also keep my head relatively warm by reducing flushing of cold water over my scalp and that provide good options for hearing my teammates. Keeping your head warm in cold water and being able to hear well through ear pads or a helmet liner are absolutely features that directly contribute to adventure safety.
What is the Packrafter’s Dilemma, and how does that figure into safety gear selection?
Back to the essential question for packrafters: How do I balance maximizing my safety and comfort with minimizing weight and bulk of my gear? Similar to the world of mountaineering, speed gained by reducing weight can itself become a safety consideration.
I’m not going to pretend I never make compromises on safety gear; I am a packrafter after all. Have I ever shorted myself or my group by packing a minimalist first aid kit, or by leaving behind a spare paddle? Yes.
Have I ever packrafted with a climbing or biking helmet? Yes. Gone light on insulating layers or spare clothes, or paddled just with a rain jacket instead of a full drysuit? Yes.
Have I ever made any of the above compromises without careful experience-based consideration, in the context of my personal skill and ability along with that of my team, plus due consideration of both the risk and consequence of each specific gear downgrade for the specific adventure environment and objective I’m undertaking? No.
It’s a sticky issue to discuss in some ways. But as backcountry packrafters I know you will face future decisions about intentional gear downgrades. In my pragmatic view, that is an appropriate issue to consider, but ONLY if it is a fully informed and openly discussed, proactive choice by you and your team.
To be clear I do not elect to downgrade my equipment very often, because I find through careful consideration the consequences are often quite high in backcountry packrafting situations. Not least of all helmet selection because of the grave consequences of head trauma. For a choice like saving 8oz with a climbing or bike helmet over a high quality whitewater helmet, there really has to be an extreme reason for me to need to drop that weight on an approach (almost never happens). Or there has to be a vanishingly small chance of falling on slippery rocks or flipping my packraft.
If a river section has features that are at least two grades below my abilities (e.g. I am a Class IV paddler on a Class II section) AND I know with certainty the riverbed is entirely loose sand, then I may consider helmet downgrade. Choosing to save 8oz with a climbing or biking helmet simply because it’s an obvious way to save weight is a poor and unjustifiable practice.
Additionally, It is also important to communicate to others outside of your team that you carefully chose to downgrade a piece of safety gear in a limited circumstance based on careful risk-consequence consideration. Even if you did, but you don’t advertise how or why, the visibility of those gear choices in any media you publish may inadvertently work against our culture of safety.
A Final Note: A Useful strategy for avoiding safety gear downgrades
Rather than look at my kit for ways to reduce weight by downgrading or leaving safety gear behind, I look for “packrafty” ways to justify their inclusion. For example, if I choose a shelter that requires a breakdown spare paddle to set up then I never give myself the option to consider leaving it behind.
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