What helmets do and do not do, as the standards and the studies put it.

How many people wear one

• United States (NSAA). The National Ski Areas Association reports helmet use among US skiers and riders rising from 25 percent in 2002/03 to 90 percent in 2023/24. It gives about 96 percent for children aged 17 and under in 2023/24, against under half in 2002, and about 92 percent for 18 to 34 year olds (no season given), the group NSAA names, especially male skiers and riders, as its main opportunity for more use.
• 2024/25 (unconfirmed). A trade report of 18 June 2026 cites NSAA data for 2024/25 of 91 percent overall, 96 percent among those 17 and under, 98 percent among 10 to 14 year olds and 92 percent among those 65 and over. The NSAA document itself was not read.
• Switzerland (BFU). The Swiss Council for Accident Prevention said on 17 December 2024 that almost everyone on Swiss pistes now wears a helmet.

NSAA urges helmet use and, in the same breath, urges skiers and riders to behave as if they were not wearing one, saying behaviour matters as much as or more than any equipment.

What the standards test

• EN 1077 classes. A helmet maker's summary of 31 August 2020 says class A helmets cannot have detachable ear covers and use a higher impact speed in the penetration test, and that class B was developed for more ventilation and better hearing. That is a maker's claim; the standard text is sold, not posted, and was not read.
• Snell RS-98. Snell's site lists RS-98 as a 1998 standard for recreational skiing and snowboarding and keeps a certification list for it, while a Snell pre-test form calls RS-98 "rescinded". The two Snell documents disagree, and its current status is unconfirmed.
• What Snell says about risk. Snell's S-98 text says some activities, such as speed skiing, "extreme" skiing and acrobatics, carry extra risk for which more protective headgear may be appropriate. It names four elements of protection: impact management, positional stability, retention strength and extent of protection.
• Rotational impact. Mips, a maker, says its low-friction layer is intended to help reduce the risk of brain injury, and its own disclaimer says no helmet or impact system can protect against all injuries. The research did not see a rotational-impact test in ASTM F2040-18, EN 1077:2007, Snell S-98 or CSA Z263.1-14; that is an observation from searching, not a statement by any standards body.

The standards in detail, and which ones FIS accepts, are on helmets and standards.

What regulators and FIS say

• US CPSC (January 2026). The CPSC says bicycle and motorcycle helmets must meet mandatory federal standards, while helmets for many other recreational activities are subject to voluntary ones. For skiing, snowboarding and snow tubing the CPSC lists ASTM F2040 and Snell S-98 and RS-98. It says no helmet design has been proven to prevent concussions, warns against claims that a helmet can reduce or prevent them, and says a helmet may need replacing after one severe impact with visible damage, pointing users to the maker's instructions.
• Health Canada (updated 4 July 2023). Ski and snowboard helmets that do not meet the relevant criteria of CSA Z263.1-14, ASTM F2040-18, Snell RS-98 or EN 1077:2007, or an equivalent, are a danger to human health or safety under the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act. The regime is post-market: Health Canada does not approve helmets before sale. It warns that a helmet that does not protect enough may give a false sense of protection.
• FIS (2026/27 alpine specifications, section 3.6.3). Helmets must be worn as the maker instructs, they "do not offer an absolute protection" against the consequences of accidents, and the makers alone carry product liability.

What the research found, both ways

The studies below do not agree, and each result belongs to its own study, method and years.

Findings of lower head-injury risk

• Russell, Christie and Hagel, CMAJ, 2010. A meta-analysis of 12 studies from Europe, Asia and North America found helmet use associated with a 35 percent lower risk of head injury among skiers and snowboarders, and no evidence of more neck injuries. The authors estimated that 2 to 5 of every 10 head injuries among helmet users could be prevented, and said they could not judge the design, quality or fit of the helmets studied. The full article on PubMed Central gives the pooled odds ratio as 0.65 (95 percent confidence interval 0.55 to 0.79), says the studies were of moderate quality, and says no included study reported deaths.
• Sulheim and colleagues, JAMA, 2006. A Norwegian case-control study of 3,277 injured skiers and snowboarders and 2,992 uninjured controls in the 2002 season found helmet use associated with 60 percent lower odds of head injury (adjusted odds ratio 0.40). That is an association, not proof that helmets prevent head injury.
• BFU, 2024. The Swiss body says a helmet cuts the risk of a serious head injury by one third, and that rescue services record a head injury in one in ten piste accidents.
• US CPSC staff, January 1999. From a 1998 special study, staff estimated that 44 percent of skiing and snowboarding head injuries, and 53 percent among children under 15, could be addressed by helmets, and that about 11 head-injury deaths a year might be prevented. This is a 1999 estimate, not a current finding.

Findings that cut the other way

• Shealy, Johnson and Ettlinger, 2006. Writing when as many as 40 percent of those at risk wore helmets, they concluded helmets may be effective against minor injuries but had not been shown to reduce the overall incidence of death in skiing and snowboarding, and that a helmet may change the main cause of death but perhaps not the outcome.
• A Norwegian follow-up (unconfirmed). A British Journal of Sports Medicine paper, seen only as a search-result excerpt, reported the association between helmets and fewer head injuries weakening as use rose: an odds ratio of 0.45 in 2002, 0.79 in 2010 and 0.80 (not significant) in 2011, holding better for potentially severe head injuries.
• A Swiss trauma-centre comparison (unconfirmed). Seen only as a search-result excerpt: comparing two case series 30 years apart, all injured patients wore helmets in the 2020 season and none in 1981 to 1993, and diffuse axonal injury was more common in the later group.
• Deaths in 2015-16 (press report). NSAA figures reported in 2017 say 23 of the 39 people who died at US ski areas that season wore helmets, 15 did not and 1 was unknown, in a season when NSAA put overall helmet use at about 80 percent. More on deaths at ski areas.

In the two-area US study of 2000 to 2005, most injured people wore no helmet: 27 percent of the injured in terrain parks and 20 percent on other slopes had one (injuries named).

What this page leaves out

Concussion rules are on concussion by body, and laws on who must wear a helmet are on youth helmet rules.