Ski helmet covers: do they affect the helmet, and are they worth it?

Does a cover affect the certification?

The question people actually arrive with, and the answer is no - for the same reason removing your ear pads does not.

A snow helmet is certified as a system of two things: the hard outer shell, which spreads an impact and resists penetration, and the energy-absorbing liner underneath it, usually EPS foam, which crushes to absorb the energy. That is what ASTM F2040 and CE EN 1077 test. Ski helmet safety standards, and why there is no safest helmet goes through what each one measures.

A fabric cover stretched over the outside of the shell is not part of that system. It does not sit between your head and the liner, it does not hold the helmet off your skull, and it does not change where the shell sits. This is a genuinely different case from putting a thick beanie underneath a helmet, which does all three - and is why liners need to be low-profile.

The actual reason to buy one

Not the design. The design is why children ask for one; visibility is why parents should say yes.

• You can find your own child. A beginner slope on a Saturday holds forty small people in dark helmets and similar jackets. One in a loud cover is identifiable from the chair above, from the lift queue, and from the bottom of the run. That is the whole benefit and it is a real one - the skiing-with-kids page covers the rest of keeping track of people.
• Instructors can find them too. A group lesson with a distinctive helmet in it is easier to keep together, which the instructor will quietly appreciate.
• A child who likes their helmet wears their helmet. A smaller point than it sounds for an adult and not a small one at six years old.
• It protects the shell cosmetically. Scuffs from a boot bag or a car trunk land on the cover rather than the paint. Cosmetic only - it does not protect the shell structurally.
• Being seen in flat light. Marginal, but a bright cover in falling snow is not nothing on a crowded run.

The two things to check before putting one on

• 1. The goggle strap. Most covers are designed to sit under the strap or around it. If the cover goes over the strap, the goggles can ride up and come off - and the rear clip that holds the strap in place stops working. Fitting a helmet and goggles together is the page on getting that interface right; put the cover on and re-check the whole fit indoors before a lift ticket is involved.
• 2. The vents. A cover blocks them, and a knitted cover blocks them more. On a January morning nobody notices; on a bright spring afternoon the child overheats in the one piece of equipment they cannot take off. If your helmet was bought on its venting - the OutdoorMaster Kelvin 2 publishes twelve vents, for instance - you are undoing part of what you paid for.

One more, which is about the helmet rather than the cover: a cover must not be how a loose helmet is made to fit. If the helmet only stays put with a cover stretched over it, the helmet is the wrong size - re-measure and read the fit checks.

What this category publishes, which is almost nothing

Worth being blunt, because it is unusual for this site to rank anything on so little.

Two near-empty columns. No fabric, no weight, no fit range, no warranty from either - and “universal fit” is a claim rather than a measurement. So this page does not rank on specification, because there is none to rank on. It ranks on what the makers state they are for, and it tells you the two checks that matter more than either product choice. Our method is printed in full, and we have not used either of these.

The two worth looking at

COOLCASC Universal Fit Ski Helmet Cover

The pick, for two weak but real reasons in a category with nothing strong. COOLCASC publishes universal fit - which at least addresses the question you have - and it makes the cover as its actual product rather than as a hat that happens to go over a helmet. A thin stretch cover is also the construction that interferes least with the fit and blocks the vents least.

It is the dearer of the two, and what you are paying for is the design range and the fact that a company specializing in this is more likely to have thought about the goggle strap than one that is not.

Honest cons. No fabric, weight or fit range published - and “universal” is doing a lot of work in a category where head shapes vary. No MSRP and no warranty term. It covers the vents, which is a spring-afternoon problem on a helmet sold on its venting. And it is decoration: it adds no protection, which bears repeating because the price is close to that of a genuine safety accessory.

YCONNECT Knitted Ski Helmet Cover

The cheaper one, and the one to choose if warmth is part of the point. Published as fitting ski, snowboard, skate and bicycle helmets - a broader claim than COOLCASC makes, and a genuinely useful one for a household where a child moves between sports with different helmets.

A knitted cover adds a layer over the shell, which on a bitter chairlift is a small real benefit that a thin stretch cover does not give you. That is also precisely its problem in April.

Honest cons. It blocks the vents more than a thin cover does - that is the direct trade for the warmth. No fabric weight, fit range, MSRP or warranty published, and no spec page of its own. And knitted fabric soaks and then freezes if it is left on a wet helmet overnight, so it comes off to dry with everything else - at room temperature, not on a radiator.

Cheaper ways to solve the same problem

Since the real benefit is visibility, it is worth saying that a cover is not the only way to get it - and two of these are free.

• A bright jacket, which you are buying anyway. Visible from much further than a helmet and it is a decision you make once - kids' jackets priced by the day rather than the sticker.
• Stickers on the helmet. Free, instant, and a child will spend half an hour arranging them. They do not affect the shell. Keep them off the certification label.
• A distinctive goggle strap or a colored strap on the skis. Also identifies the gear on a rack, which has a second benefit - anonymous skis are the ones that get taken.
• A photograph of the child, taken that morning, in that day's clothes. The thing ski patrol will actually ask for, and the single most useful free preparation on this page.
• A meeting point that does not depend on a phone. Radios beat phones on a mountain, and a named lift base beats both.

The verdict

• Safe? Yes. A cover over the outside of the shell does not change what the helmet is certified to do.
• Worth it? For a child on a crowded beginner slope, yes - for visibility, not for the design. For an adult, it is decoration.
• Which one? Thin stretch cover for visibility and venting, knitted for cold days, and check the goggle strap either way.
• What not to do: use a cover to make a loose helmet fit, leave one on a wet helmet overnight, cover the vents on a spring afternoon, or buy one believing it adds protection.
• And first: make sure the helmet underneath is certified and fits. Kids' helmets ranked on published safety and size range is the purchase that matters; this page is the accessory.