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This page explains what governing bodies, standards bodies and safety bodies publish. It is not a substitute for lessons from a qualified instructor, avalanche training or medical advice.
Recreational layers, named only
Four recreational layers are named here, and only named:
- a base layer next to the skin;
- a mid layer;
- an insulated jacket;
- a shell.
The research behind this site found no standards-body source specific to ski clothing, so this page gives no performance figures, ratings or advice on what to wear. The NHS describes hypothermia as a dangerous drop in body temperature below 35 C and says it needs hospital treatment, and says frostbite, which most often affects the fingers, toes, nose and ears, needs medical help. More is on cold and altitude.
Competition clothing, discipline by discipline
Each discipline's rule is its own. The ski cross, snowboard and park-and-pipe rules below come from FIS, Specifications for Competition Equipment: Snowboard, Freestyle, Freeski and Ski Cross, Edition 2026/2027 (June 2026).
| Discipline | Rule | What it requires |
|---|---|---|
| Alpine downhill, super-G, giant slalom | FIS alpine specifications 2026/27, 1.4 and 3.4 | A textile, untreated race suit meeting an air-permeability minimum, with a "CS 2015" label: see race suits, airbags and cut protection |
| Ski cross | B.6.1 | One or two pieces; predominantly textile, with no rubber, neoprene, leather or vinyl-like base; uniform from top to bottom; no stiffened lower cuff; protection worn on the body, not built into or fastened to the suit |
| Moguls, aerials, halfpipe, slopestyle, big air (freestyle and freeski) | B.6.2 and B.6.3 | No suit limitations |
| Snowboard cross | C.3.1 | Two pieces worn independently: pants from waist to ankle, visibly loose from the upper leg down and not attached to the boot, and a jacket overlapping the pants; nothing, such as zips, hook-and-loop or buttons, that could join the two; no bib pants and no one-piece speed suits |
| Snowboard alpine (parallel giant slalom, parallel slalom) | C.3.2 | Two pieces: pants reaching the top buckle of the boot and a jacket reaching the hip bone; one-piece speed suits prohibited |
| Snowboard halfpipe, slopestyle, big air | C.3.1 | No specific clothing rules |
| Ski jumping and Nordic combined | FIS cross-country, ski jumping and Nordic combined specifications 2026/27, C.4 | Five-layer suits of FIS-homologated fabric, with fixed fit tolerances and chip marking at top events: see race suits, airbags and cut protection |
Cut-resistant underwear is mandatory in all FIS alpine events and, at race level 1, in ski cross from 2026/27; the detail is on the same race suits page.
Gloves
- Alpine (FIS alpine specifications 2026/27, 3.8): "urgently recommended"; they may not reach past the elbow and may not be coated or reshaped for aerodynamics.
- Freestyle and ski cross (FIS snowboard, freestyle, freeski and ski cross specifications 2026/27): "strongly recommended".
- Snowboard (same document, C.5): riders may wear nothing on their hands except gloves.
- Ski jumping (FIS cross-country, ski jumping and Nordic combined specifications 2026/27, C.12): compulsory, and the sleeve may not be fixed around the glove.
Ski mountaineering: the ISMF's race layers
The ISMF's Rules and Guidelines 2025-26 (in force 30 October 2025) name the clothing a ski mountaineering racer must or may wear. ISMF is a separate body from FIS, and these are race rules for that discipline only:
- a compulsory long-sleeved suit or layer covering the arms to the wrist;
- an optional base layer A, a body-hugging top (a sports bra does not count), and an optional outer layer B, a long-sleeved windbreaker, as the Technical Jury decides;
- full-length ski pants or a suit as the lower base layer, plus optional windbreaker pants.
Depending on the race format, the ISMF's compulsory and supplementary equipment also names a survival blanket of at least 1.80 square metres (31.1), a ski cap or headband, a second pair of gloves, a head lamp and a second pair of eyewear. The avalanche equipment on the same list is on avalanche equipment standards.
Sources
- FIS, Specifications for Alpine Competition Equipment, Edition 2026/2027 (July 2026)
- FIS, Specifications for Competition Equipment: Snowboard, Freestyle, Freeski and Ski Cross, Edition 2026/2027 (June 2026)
- FIS, Specifications for Competition Equipment: Cross-Country, Ski Jumping, Nordic Combined, Edition 2026/2027 (marked-up copy)
- International Ski Mountaineering Federation (ISMF), Rules and Guidelines 2025-26, in force 30 October 2025 (copy hosted by the Deutscher Alpenverein)
- NHS, Hypothermia (reviewed 9 June 2023)
- NHS, Frostbite (reviewed 9 June 2025)