Petzl Elia Helmet Review

Early on in my climbing career, I met a woman just hours before her husband pulled off a baseball-sized rock on his 4th lap of a highly trafficked route, which landed on her head, killing her instantly. Also, since she was belaying with an ATC, he fell 60 feet to the ground, shattering both his legs.

After that sobering experience, I went out and bought two things, a Gri-Gri, and a helmet that finally fit. I gave away the big, clunky, uncomfortable one that someone had given to me, and which I had a host of reasons for not wearing. It still took many years, however, after buying that first blue Petzl Elios helmet, to finally commit to wearing it consistently. I would often leave it at home, or in the bottom of my pack, continually justifying it to myself with thoughts like, I’m ONLY going sport climbing, or, I’m going to an area with solid rock.

These days, I live in the land of the infamous “Splitter Choss,” where the rock isn’t always as solid as one might hope. And, I can finally, proudly say I now take my helmet wearing seriously.

As such, it was exciting news when I saw the ads for the new Petzl Elia helmet, encouraging Steven Segal to re-grow his manly locks because this was the perfect brain bucket for him. I, like many, laughed at the creativity of the marketing campaign, while at the same time was intrigued by the idea of a helmet that you could rock a pony tail in. Although they included Segal in their ad campaign, the Elia is most definitely a women’s specific helmet (though there probably ARE some men who might enjoy it as well.)

When my Elia arrived, I could tell right out of the box that it was different from other helmet designs I had seen before. They didn’t just take a dude’s helmet and make it pink. Like most Petzl products, they developed well thought out features that come together to make a high performance women’s helmet.

Here’s a brief rundown of the features that I’ve found most useful over your standard helmet:

• Instead of having a behind-the-head adjuster system, they moved it to the side, so that it won’t tangle in your hair.
• The helmet suspension is adjustable from top to bottom, but sits high on the head allowing for a pony tail or varying thicknesses of hair.
• Despite sitting high, it’s a low profile helmet so that you don’t feel like a mushroom head.
• Often it’s simpler to throw my hair in a pony tail, versus the two girly braids that 9 out of 10 climber ladies wear, (and which is often required with other helmets) so in essence it’s made my life that much simpler.

The colors are pretty good, though the blue I have is probably my least favorite, but it’s what was available at the time I got it.

Apparently the magazine ads are working, because other women often take notice of the Elia out at the crags, and once they try it on several have proclaimed that they were going to go home and order one that evening. I guess Petzl found a solid niche with this one.

Now, it’s not all roses, but the only real gripe I have with the Elia is the size of the helmet (52-58 centimeters). This range is a little big for my head, and it’s a bit puzzling to me that they didn’t offer it in two sizes like their popular Elios and Altios models. Both of those have a small size with a range of 48-56cm, which is ideal for someone like myself. So if you know you need a smaller helmet, you should keep that in mind while checking out the Elia, as it might not offer a proper fit, despite all its other benefits.

Overall, though, the Petzl Elia is an excellent helmet with thoughtful features that most women climbers will find is a worthwhile step up from what they are currently wearing.