There are five major requirements a mountaineering helmet need to surpass to be certified:
1. Field of vision
Making sure the helmet design does not interfere with the user’s field of vision
2. Extent of coverage
Making sure the helmet covers all necessary parts of the head
3. Shock absorbing capacity.
Helmets are subjected to an impact from a falling mass onto a fixed headform. However, to reflect the nature of the use, additional impacts are required at the front, side and rear of the helmet. These impacts are carried out by tilting the headform on the rigid base at an angle of 60° (so that impacts are carried out at 30° from the horizontal plane of the headform).
Impacts are carried out using two strikers, one flat and one hemispherical, each weighing 5kg. Helmets are impacted using the hemispherical striker dropped from a height of 2 meters, and at the front, rear and sides using the flat striker dropped from a height of 500mm. In all cases, the transmitted force through the headform cannot exceed 10kN..
4. Resistance to penetration.
This is where the mountaineering certification differs the most from the EN1077 certification for ski and snowsports. These helmets are intended to provide protection against sharp / pointed objects from above, and so are tested for penetration by sharp objects. The test in EN 12492 is a 3kg conical striker dropped onto the helmet from a height of 1 meters. The point of the metal punch must not reach the head inside the helmet
5. Retention system performance
This test covers the strength of the retention system (webbing), as well as its effectiveness, i.e. the webbings ability to keep the helmet securely positioned on the head.
Sweet Protection's Ascender and Ascender MIPS helmets are triple certified for both mountaineering (CLASS B / EN 12492) and ski/snowboard (CE EN 1077 and ASTM).