Ski Area Padding — International Society for Snowsports Safety

Collisions with fixed objects

Ski areas often encompass fixed manmade and natural objects such as lift towers, snowmaking equipment, posts, and trees. While collisions with objects are rare, the outcomes can be catastrophic. Various types of padding can be placed on or near fixed objects to enhance visibility and to reduce the severity of a collision. There exists only one standard for ski area padding from Association Française de Normalisation (AFNOR), but it has not been adopted internationally. In North America, ASTM committee F27 on Snow and Water Sports has formed a working group to develop a ski area padding performance and operations standard.

ISSS Working Group on Ski Area Padding

ISSS members identified a need to reduce the risk of injury from collisions with fixed objects and the ISSS working group published a white paper which outlined the problem and made recommendations to improve safety. The recommendations included developing an ISO standard that defines the performance requirement of ski area padding and developing uniform guidelines for choosing, applying, and maintaining ski area padding. The ISSS working group is taking a multifaceted approach to achieve these recommendations.

Chair of ISSS Working Group on Ski Area Padding

Dr. Marine Dorsemaine, Aix Marseille Univ, Univ Gustave Eiffel

Associated Publications

Allen, T., Duncan, O., Foster, L., Senior, T., Zampieri, D., Edeh, V. and Alderson, A., 2017. Auxetic foam for snow-sport safety devices. In Snow Sports Trauma and Safety: Conference Proceedings of the International Society for Skiing Safety: 21st Volume (pp. 145-159). Springer International Publishing.

AFNOR Pistes de ski - Fabrication des matelas pour dispositif de protection (2003)

Dorsemaine, M., Scher, I.S., Allen, T., Masson, C., Stepan, L.L. and Arnoux, P.J., 2023. Recommendations to improve ski area safety with obstacle padding. JSAMS Plus, 2, p.100036.

Dorsemaine, M., Masson, C., Laporte, J.D., Jacot, C., Martin, J.L., Riveill, S. and Arnoux, P.J., 2023. Collisions Against Obstacles in Winter Sport Ski Areas. Wilderness & Environmental Medicine, 34(1), pp.7-14.

Dorsemaine, M., Llari, M., Riveill, S., Laporte, J.D., Jacot, C., Masson, C. and Arnoux, P.J., 2023. Collisions against obstacles while skiing: Typology of victims and impact conditions. Science & Sports, 38(8), pp.807-817.

Dorsemaine, M., Bailly, N., Riveill, S., Faucheur, T., Perretier, C., Masson, C. and Arnoux, P.J., 2021. About some factors influencing safety mattress performances in head impact collisions: A pilot study. Journal of science and medicine in sport, 24(10), pp.1067-1072.

Duncan, O., Shepherd, T., Moroney, C., Foster, L., Venkatraman, P.D., Winwood, K., Allen, T. and Alderson, A., 2018. Review of auxetic materials for sports applications: Expanding options in comfort and protection. Applied Sciences, 8(6), p.941.

Scher, I.S., Stepan, L.L., Shealy, J.E. and Hoover, R.W., 2021. Examining ski area padding for head and neck injury mitigation. Journal of science and medicine in sport, 24(10), pp.1010-1014.