This Helmet Ruined My Ski Holiday

A friend said this to me—and he's not joking. His name is Stuart. Stuart is about as affable a person as you could wish to meet, and we have skied together three or four times. Now, however, he doesn't want anything to do with me. I haven't upset him, we are on good terms—but he hates what I've got on my head. By the end of the week, so do I.

The intimidating headgear I'm wearing is the Ruroc RG2. It is, according to Ruroc, the world’s only full-face snowsports helmet—and now I can fully understand why, despite initially thinking it looked like the ideal lid to replace my aging POC. On paper, the RG2 should be a winner, despite a starting price of $379 (making it more expensive than nearly all of WIRED's picks in our ski helmet guide ...