Yukon Quest musher Brent Sass to wear helmet in this year's race

An Alaska musher will be the first to wear a helmet while racing in the Yukon Quest.

In last year's race, Brent Sass suffered a concussion after falling off his sled. He started considering wearing a helmet and has been doing so on all his training runs.

He says a small incident with a cracked visor, earlier this year, has already convinced him of the value of wearing a helmet.

"Right then and there I knew I made the right decision," he said. 

But he admits that had he not suffered a concussion, he wouldn't have considered it. But he says any discomfort is worth it. 

Sass uses a downhill ski helmet and admits it was a little hard to get used to it.

"There were certain things on it that, you know, just things that you know you're inside of a helmet all the time I mean after you put your hood on and your fur hat on everything it was definitely claustrophobic at first, but I was able to get used to it."

Now the helmet is just another part of his gear.

Sass says it has some advantages. He attached his head lamp to the helmet and it has built-in speakers for music out on the trail.

"It's more like I'm in a room of music," he said, while listing the positives.

Sass is one of 27 mushers in this year's Yukon Quest. The 1,600 kilometre race to Fairbanks starts from Whitehorse Feb. 7.