Kids Climbing Gear: Choosing the Right Helmet

Choosing the Right Climbing Helmet for Your Kid

Helmets are one of the most important pieces of safety gear you can have. Your child's entire future, their hopes and dreams, their yet-unwritten Ph.D. dissertation; all are contained in those ~1250 cubic centimeters of grey matter (thanks Google). Protect them!

Camp Armour Junior Climbing Helmet

Some people have asked me if they can use a bicycle helmet for rock climbing. The answer is no. While wearing a bicycle helmet is better than wearing no helmet, bicycle helmets are made for very different types of impacts. Climbing helmets are designed to withstand multiple impacts. This is because in very bad situations, a climber may be exposed to the impact from a fall and a subsequent impact from falling rock or debris. Bicycle helmets are designed to simply crumple after one high-force impact. If your child (or you) are wearing a bicycle helmet while climbing you only have one solid impact. Bicycle helmets also have large vent holes in them that could easily let falling rocks through if they were used for climbing. A climbing helmet always has a closed top and is designed to protect you from several impacts. This could save your life!

There are a handful of good products on the market. Let's talk about the options. An interesting thing to note is that all three of the kids climbing helmets that I am reviewing are essentially the same price. They all cost approximately $59.90. This is liberating because it allows you to make a decision based on your needs rather than price.

Our first product is the Camp Armour Junior Climbing Helmet ($59.95 on Amazon). Unfortunately I don't have a lot great things to say about this helmet. Reading reviews of it online it's clear that people find it very comfortable. The praise stops there. Several people have said that the helmet tends to slide off the top of your head during use. This is unacceptable - the helmet needs to stay absolutely still on your head. If the helmet tends to slide back it can move during a fall and expose your kid's forehead to an impact. Why wear a helmet at all if it doesn't fully protect your head? The helmet does not have great ventilation vents. It sits high on the head which is obnoxious when you're climbing. I can't count how many times I've scraped the top of big helmets on an overhanging roof and nearly fallen. The straps are the least adjustable of the three helmets. I can't recommend the Camp Armour helmet in good faith. Fortunately, there are a couple of other good choices.

Petzl Picchu Kids Helmet

The Petzl Picchu Helmet ($59.95 on Amazon) is a really interesting product. It is designed to meet both climbing and cycling safety standards. In my experience, this is a very rare feature. If your kid is a climber and a cyclist this is the clear winner of the group. It has less coverage than the Mammut El Cap and has a higher profile, so it's not perfect for climbing.  It does not have large ventilation holes like bike-specific helmets, so it's not really ideal for that either. I like to think of this helmet as a multitool; it performs several duties well, but not as well as a sport-specific helmet. With how frequently kids change sports, this may be a great purchase for your family!  One feature of this helmet that I absolutely love is the included LED safety light on the back. What an awesome idea! This is great for peace of mind during low-light climbing and biking. It's like a lighthouse beacon for your child. The Petzl Picchu Helmet also comes with a little pack of stickers that your kid can slap all over it.  They love that stuff. Heck, even as an adult I like to slap stickers all over my water bottles, notebooks, snowboards; whatever. Customization is fun :)

Mammut El Cap Kids Helmet

The Mammut - El Cap Kids Helmet ($59.95 on Amazon) is my favorite of the group of helmets for climbing. It's the only helmet with a brim, which is an excellent feature on sunny days. It has the most ventilation holes (12!) that allow junior's noggin to breath when it gets hot. One element of helmets that does get fairly annoying is that they tend to get in the way when climbing overhanging routes. You're climbing a roof section or crammed into a weird corner and the top of your helmet bumps the roof, jarring you and breaking your focus. It's not a huge problem but it can get annoying. The Mammut - El Cap Kids Helmet is low-profile and sits low on your head, limiting the obtrusiveness of the helmet. Additionally, the El Cap is the coolest-looking helmet of the group. It matters! Finally, the El Cap has the most coverage on the back of the head. There's no evidence that this will protect your kid's head any more than the standard helmet design but it makes me feel safer... It's the helmet placebo effect.

To sum it all up, don't bother with the Camp Armour Helmet. If you're looking for a very flexible helmet that your kid can use for both climbing and biking, the Petzl Picchu is a great choice. If your kid is only going to be climbing, get him/her the Mammut El Cap Kids Helmet!

Most Flexible Multisport (Climbing and Biking) Helmet:

Petzl Picchu Climbing/Biking Helmet ($59.95 on Amazon)

Best Climbing-specific Performance Kids Helmet:

Mammut - El Cap Kids Climbing Helmet ($59.95 on Amazon)

Questions? Comments? Holler at us.

Be safe.

Ariel Castro
Rugged Innovations

-->