All set for ski touring or SAR. I’m finding that placing headlamp in position for easy stowage of goggles is not easy. Experimentation is ongoing. Once you play around with this stuff you see what Dynafit was trying to do with their 1,000 lumin Daymaker helmet, sporting built-in headlamp (available on European websites, apparently).
Apologies in advance for the endless headlamp posts. Perhaps I’m making up for lost time? No more reason than increased SAR involvement (mandatory helmet) as well as frequent night skiing on icy hills. In both cases, headlamp mounting is the bugbear (I want it securely mounted yet quickly removable). A kind reader here suggested the powerful Scotch All-Weather hook-loop (generically known as “velcro”). I’m happy to report this stuff indeed provides something resembling an atomic bond. Just remember to clean surfaces with rubbing alcohol before application. Wait 24 hours then test attachment strength at home. Ninety-nine percent you’ll be good to go.
After cleaning with rubbing alcohol, placement of the hook-loop was trivial. Some sort of headband might still work, with finagling, as the Scotch partially blocks the headband slots.
Scotch on the hat. This Salomon MTN Lab helmet is the closest thing I could get to SAR color.
I doubled up for more range in headlamp mount position.
The stuff. I’ve field tested a few times now. Expensive but effective.
10 comments
Why does it need to be quickly removable?
wtofd: cause skimo? reducing rotational forces from those sneaky trees hopping out and attacking you? idk…
But I will say, the tinkering of Lou and company on all sorts of touring gear, from boots to avy bags is super useful even if all the experiments don’t pan out. Since not all of us have a mountain of gear to tinker with or a decade of old dead touring boots to pull parts from.
Writing it as “easily” removable might have been more clear. But lots of reasons. Swaps between helmets, stowage in pack, use off helmet, replacing batteries while wearing helmet, storing during daylight in situations where the headlamp looks weird or tangles with ropes and such, and so on… I’m not advocating any one particular method of attaching headlamp, just trying different ways and blogging them up… Lou
ive used this before. it works ok, but i had problems with the “velcro” packing with snow and wearing out. If youre going to leave it on it might not be a problem, but its nice to be able to clip it on/off on the mountain. Ive found that gopro style mounts work better.
Its also smart to get some clear goggle lenses.
if you want the ultimate night skiing setup check out Moonlight mountain gear
The stuff may be precious, but anything by 3M generally beats all competitors by a mile when adhesives are involved. Incidentally, Lou, you got it backwards: Velcro brand is generically known as hook-and-loop.
Check out dual lock (also a 3m product) as a higher strength alternative to velcro.
Regarding headlamp positioning. You can’t have everything, it seems. I improvised a soft foam visor for my helmet, which being flexy is compatible with parking goggles on the helmet above the visor. However, the visor prevents a headlamp from shining down close to the skier.
So, a visor should be removable. A fixed visor is easy. Not sure how I can make a good removable one. That’s a job for the helmet makers. Or, have two helmets, a day one and a night one. Phooey!
Wait! Hook and loop to the rescue! Removable headlamp and removable visor! You can have everything.
PS, Velcro® makes an “Industrial Strength” version in rolls 4′ x 2″. It’s aggressive. They claim 1 lb/inch^2, whatever that means. I’ve found small pieces make secure attachments.
Headlamp/Visor update. Got the Coastal lamp, mounted it with indy-strength Velcro. No problem. It’s big enough to avoid visor shading. My tiny emergency/camp lamp is not good for visored helmet use.
The On/Off button seems very unlikely to switch on in the pack, but store it with soft stuff to be safe.
I like the choice of flood (very even) and bull’s eye spot, which is a bright spot surrounded by a dimmer flood. The transition between the two is not useful.
The single thing I dislike about this lamp is that it takes an odd number of AAA cells. They are always sold or recharged in even numbers.
Hi Jim, you are now an official gear tester. Let us know how the Coastal works for you. I’m still liking mine. The simple control is excellent. Need some abuse testing, however. I’m not too worried about it turning on in backpack, though I’ll not just throw it in with a jumble of hard sided objects. Lou
https://www.teamwendy.com/products/helmets-accessories/helmets/x1-backcountry-search-and-rescue-ski-helmet