A guy that I know coaches a ski team. He knows that I tinker with flashlights and is looking for a suggestions on a headlamp. He made the statement along the lines that he sees other coaches with headlamps that only have small pencil beams and he wants something more useable and reliable. The problem is that I have little experience with headlamps. I know that he wants a bright headlamp with some flood, and he wants to mount it on a helmet. I was thinking that a light with a battery pack on the back may help balance it out as well as keep it on the helmet. I would imagine that as the light will be used in below freezing temperature conditions, a AA or AAA powered light would be advisable. Also, as they are moving downhill, I would also think that a non-visible PWM signal in the light would also be important. Does anyone have any suggestions as to lights I should start looking at?
AA/AAA batteries? Battery pack? Do they come together? Never seen one :~
BTW any budget or price range?
EDIT: You could try Zebralight. Headlamp I believe quite a number of the members here EDC those
your coach is right, pencil beams are not what you want for night time skiing, few years ago, there was a headlamp manufacturer vaska, he was building lights for skiing, running, he himself was skier\biker. so he knew what exactly needed, and what was not a good idea. he used to say beams with narow beams\sharp edges spot\spill do affect human brain, and entire experience would not be to plesant. he used optics\led combo, that would give enough throw but with no sharp trasition between spot and spill. he also used to build headband like no others (looked similar to lights doctors use for surgeries) the light would sit firm on your head, but you did not have to have it tight so your eyes pop out. he was cpf member, so cpf should still heve his posts, too bad we can not ask him himself, he was killed by a car , while riding a bike in russia.
now having said that, I use my zebra h600 for riding a bike, never felt I needed anymore light than it puts out, I mean more is better, but I see good enough with h600, it is also very light, it weights less than its battery.
The fenix hp25 seems like a pretty good option, I don’t have experience with it, but on paper looks to be adequate.
I have a NiteCore HC50 on my bicycle helmet. Very nice beam/spill combination and a decent amount of light as well as pretty good runtime and a very robust construction. I use it in the winter below freezing on the helmet without any problems at all.
565 Lumen.
It takes a 18650 battery together with the LED, so no counterweight in the back. If worn on a helmet it feels fine, but directly on the head it feels a little front heavy and clumsy.
I have owned a headlight for years,and it is powerful,versatile and comfortable to wear.It has multimode and the agjustments are easy to use.I usually use it for outdoor activities.Great product!love it!
http://amzn.to/1MIQTxy
BG has them on sale now
Look up the spark sx5
very flexible battery options
AAA or AA or 18650 or 26650
The reflector is removable if a mule is wanted
and extended wire is available if you want to carry the battery on the waist
Another hidden aff
Clue = No need to use url shortener if you have nothing to hide 
Crap headlamp! And burying affiliate links with the .to is uncool.
Night skiing is more akin to mtb with uneven terrain and direction changes so you need more light both wide angle and throw to pick your line at speed. A medium beam high output like an mtg2 would be nice. In moguls added helmet weight is accentuated so a remote pack is a good idea. For cross country a modest light is adequate and more appropriate.