Skiers Leaving Toxic Chemicals from Ski Wax on Slopes

30th January 2024

Last modified on February 2nd, 2024

The research was done by the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen and the University of Graz in Austria.

The study’s results come just weeks after a ban on use of PFAS (Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances) in ski-wax in professional skiing events.

This was due to links with serious health concerns including cancer, fertility issues and liver damage.

Wax is used on skis to reduce friction and enable skiers to go faster.

Skis. Image © PlanetSKI

“These chemicals are called forever chemicals because they will need hundreds of years to break down,” said researcher, Viktoria Müller,

“Because of this, they could accumulate or spread into the wider environment, including groundwater systems, which is the main concern.

“While there has been concern about the use of PFAS in ski wax for some time, this study on Alpine ski slopes showed that skiing will produce orders of magnitude higher concentrations of PFAS onto anywhere skiing is taking place where these types of wax area used.

“However, even where there is no skiing, there are still small detections because of how widely this chemical has now spread in the environment.”

The study, which was funded by the Macaulay Development Trust, a charity which supports research into sustainable land use, looked for around 30 of the most likely PFAS compounds expected to be found in ski wax.

The study also tested six commercially available ski waxes bought in 2021, before the ban of fluoro-wax for PFAS content.

Of the six, five contained fluorinated compounds.

While a number of international skiing bodies have banned use of ski waxes containing PFAS, its enforcement only recently started happening in international events due to the time it took to create suitable testing methods.

The first skier to be caught with PFAS on their skis was a two-time Olympic medallist who was disqualified following a race in late October during the Alpine World Cup in Austria.

PFAS is a man-made group of more than 12,000 chemicals, first used in the 1940s, widely used in household products from frying pans to waterproof jackets.

It has also become so widespread that there are background levels of it found around the world with recent studies worldwide finding these chemicals in a range of unexpected places, such as bottled water.

Concerns around its links to health issues have led to calls for bans on the use of PFAS and, to date, a number have been banned, while research is ongoing to find alternatives that can breakdown more easily.

The work had funding from the Macaulay Development Trust.

The full study can be found here: Per and polyfluoroalkylated substances (PFAS) target and EOF analyses in ski wax, snowmelts, and soil from skiing areas – Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts (RSC Publishing)

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation announced a ban on fluorinated ski wax earlier this year, for the 2023/2024 ski season. FIS to fully implement fluor wax ban at start of 2023-24 season (fis-ski.com)

The International Biathlon Union has also banned fluorinated ski wax and started testing this season: Fluor ban: this is how it works (biathlonworld.com)