Ski and snowboard gifts: what needs no fitting, and what is better left.

Better left to the skier or rider

Several kinds of kit are hard to buy as a surprise, for reasons the standards and rules themselves give:

• Boots. They are fitted in person, and the sole has to match the binding: alpine boots fall under ISO 5355, or under ISO 23223 where they have walking soles, and the makers' compatibility lists say which binding takes which sole. See boots and sole norms.
• Bindings. Alpine bindings under ISO 9462 are set by a binding technician for the person who will use them; this site gives no release values.
• Helmets. Which standard is acceptable can depend on the place and, for racers, the discipline: FIS alpine downhill, super-G, giant slalom and parallel require the RH 2013 label, for example. The CPSC says a helmet may need replacing after one severe impact with visible damage. Fit is checked in person. See the helmet guide.
• Skis and snowboards. Length and width suit a particular person, and are settled in person.
• Avalanche equipment. It comes after avalanche training, not before. The AIARE recreational courses and Avalanche Canada's AST courses are named on the backcountry guide; this site recommends no provider.

Nothing in this guide says a product is certified, safe or legal; the standard and the body's rule decide.

If the gift is wax, for a racer

FIS has banned fluorinated wax. It prohibited products containing C8 fluorocarbons (PFOA) at all FIS events from 2021/2022 (FIS, 7 June 2021), and the FIS Council confirmed full implementation of the fluor wax ban from the start of the 2023-24 season (meeting of 25 October 2023). FIS quotes ICR 222.8 as prohibiting fluorinated wax or fluorine-containing tuning products for all FIS disciplines and levels, with disqualification for use in competition. Some US states have also restricted ski wax with intentionally added PFAS: law-firm summaries seen in search results give Minnesota from 1 January 2025 and Colorado from 1 January 2026, but the statutes were not read, so those dates are unconfirmed. This site gives no waxing method; the rules are on wax and the fluor ban.

Second-hand kit and recalls

Regulators recall ski kit. On 9 November 2023, for example, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a recall of touring bindings whose toe component could fail, and sent owners to an authorised dealer rather than self-repair. Bindings and avalanche transceivers appear most in the notices the research found; they are listed on recalls, and a recall says nothing about other models or makers.

For readers

Books are an easy gift, and the history is full of accounts that differ. FIS says it was founded in 1924 during the first Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix. On the metal ski, Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand, says aircraft engineer Howard Head developed the first laminated metal ski in 1947 and founded his company in 1950, while The Aspen Times (28 March 2017) describes development from about 1946, with the successful design tested in spring 1950 after 40 failed attempts. Both are given here because they differ. Any book's account is its author's; this site's history pages, such as the oldest skis, give each version with who says it.

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