Do you use a back protector?
A couple of my skiing buddies were former competitive freeride guys where back protectors are mandatory for competition. They still wear them nearly every day skiing and it's got me wondering if this is a pretty obvious piece of safety equipment that I should also be using. We all ski the same stuff at the same speeds and I have witnessed a few of their crashes where they slammed the protector on some nasty objects (stumps, rocks, trees, etc) that seemingly would have done some pretty noteworthy damage, but it also seems as though they have adjusted their crashing style a bit to utilize the extra protection in that area.
I know whether or not to get one is an incredibly subjective topic so I'm not looking for the internet to tell me what to do, I'm just curious how many of you actually wear these regularly and what your experience has been with them. Also interested to see if there are any studies or informal data points about the rate of spine injuries in skiing from direct trauma to the back vs broken necks
I couldn't find a recent thread on these but if there is one let me know and I'll delete this
Do you use a back protector?
I have one that I got when I returned to skiing after a back injury. I wear it occasionally skiing and always when I ride bike park. My Deuter Descentor 22L has some back protection too.