Headphone Use While Skiing/Boarding

I use them all the time while skinning, although often only in one ear. I do that so that I can communicate w/ my partners. Not for safety, but because I like to be able to hear and be heard. Don't use them much on the way down, but only because it doesn't enhance the experience for me. I disagree w/ the safety comments. By the time you can hear an avy (or whoomphing for that matter), it's usually way too late. Feel free to disagree, but you're still wrong

I like to use them for skinning when I'm solo because with the proper music ( Fortunate Son-CCR, Stand Back-Stevie Nix, Already Gone-Eagles, etc) it gives me the extra energy I desperately need. If I'm all alone on a blue groomer I'll crank up the same tunes and make like a male, senior citizen version of Suzy Chaffee. Not a pretty sight.

If you want to pop them in on the chairlift or on the skin to Muir that may be irritating to others but at least it's not hazardous. Wearing headphones on a bike trail or a resort ski run makes it difficult to hear warnings/skiers approaching/bikes approaching and therefore is hazardous to others. Frankly, I think it's hard to dispute.

My friend is BLIND (not deaf) but still LOVES to ski.

SO she skis in an orange sandwich sign with "BLIND SKIER" in big letters on both sides.

That seems like a fair precaution to take at a busy ski resort .

My friend is BLIND (not deaf) but still LOVES to ski.

SO she skis in an orange sandwich sign with "BLIND SKIER" in big letters on both sides.

That seems like a fair precaution to take at a busy ski resort .

Apologies but the imp in me suggests that a DEAF, DUMB AND BLIND SKIER sandwich sign would be a pro-active enhancement for resort skiing. My scariest ski experiences are usually close encounters while lift skiing.

I listen to music all the time while ascending, although the volume is low enough to hear everything around me and converse with people. The headphones are more for background music than to zone out of my surroundings.

On the decent I usually turn the tunes off.