Icaro Cut3 Helmet
- June 2014
- Fly
I’ve been jumping in the Icaro Cut3 helmet for about 6 years. I prefer full-face protection for a few reasons, and frankly don’t really see the point of wearing an open face helmet especially for slider-off base jumping, though it obviously works to hold your camera. I know more than one person who’s broken a jaw or a lot of teeth from hitting a bridge, a cliff or the ground and it’s painful and expensive. I also think if you have a serious offheading and you hit the wall, if your nose or face takes even a small direct hit you’re likely to lose consciousness and lose your chance to correct or take any kind of action to save yourself.
The problem with base helmets is no one makes any. Skydiving helmets don’t have any impact protection, and the open face snowboard/ski helmets don’t have any chin protection. Moving to other sports helmets, downhill mountain bike helmets offer chin protection, but they are extremely bulky and heavy. Light is right not just for carrying your stash bag up the hill, but also for keeping your neck from getting whiplashed on a hard opening.
Luckily there is a solution! I did some research and found the Icaro Cut3 which was designed for paragliding. It’s full face, has E.N. 966 certification (impact rated), and weighs 520 grams (just over a pound), which is about half the weight of a standard downhill mountain biking helmet.
It’s also low profile, and it looks good. I wear it for slider off jumping, but I have used it for wingsuit jumping also and you can put ski goggles on with it. If you jump it for terminal use, and you have a front and back mount gopro, you may have to tighten up the chin strap for the wind drag on the cameras.
I really can’t say enough about this helmet, and I think it’s the best thing out there for base jumping. For that reason, through Moab Base Adventures, I’ve started importing the Cut3 (they’re made in Italy): so if you want to get one you can do it by emailing steph@moabbaseadventures.com. There’s not much gear as important as head protection, so you may as well have a great helmet 🙂
