Ski and snowboard equipment, as the rule books and standards bodies set it out.

This section is a reference to the rules and standards on ski and snowboard equipment, not a buying guide or an instruction manual. Skiing and snowboarding cause head and knee injuries and deaths, and avalanches kill people in the backcountry, which is why the helmet, back-protector, binding and avalanche-equipment standards take up several pages. No item of equipment is presented here as preventing injury or death, and nothing here replaces lessons, avalanche training or a doctor.

The disciplines are different sports with different equipment rules. Alpine, freestyle and freeski, ski cross, snowboard, cross-country, ski jumping and Nordic combined each have their own FIS rules, and ski mountaineering races run under the ISMF's rules, not FIS's. Every figure on these pages is given with its discipline, its document and edition, and its rule number. Binding release-value settings, boot fitting, tuning, waxing and the use of avalanche equipment are outside the site's scope.

Rule books and standards used

What changed for 2026/27

• Alpine skis: maximum lengths for downhill, super-G and giant slalom, and a ski-system weight table that contradicts another clause of the same document: see FIS race ski rules and the race ski checker.
• Alpine boots: a maximum boot height set by sole length.
• Alpine protection: airbags mandatory at race levels 0 and 1 in speed events without the 2025/26 exceptions, and cut-resistant underpants mandatory at all FIS alpine events: see race suits, airbags and cut protection.
• Ski cross: cut-resistant undergarments mandatory at race level 1.
• Snowboard cross: a triple helmet requirement (ASTM F2040, EN 1077 class A and a 6.8 m/s test) and mandatory back protection: see helmets and standards.

The safety research behind these rules, including what studies say about helmets, is in the safety section, and buying guides by category are in guides.