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LES ARCS, France — The ski season in Europe may be coming to a close, but the chemicals left behind by skiers and snowboarders could remain on the Alps forever.
The toxic substances used in fluorinated ski wax help reduce friction when applied to the bottom of skis; that helps competitors — especially cross country skiers — get maximum speed. In winter sports where races are won by fractions of a second, any competitive advantage — including the kind of wax athletes use — is key.
But these per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — also known as “forever chemicals” because they take such a long time to break down in nature — have been linked to a host of health conditions including infertility, cancer and liver damage.
That’s prompted a coalition of five European countries to push for an EU-wide ban on the chemicals, including in consumer products like cosmetics and food packaging — as well as ski wax. Several international and national ski associations have also moved to ban PFAS-heavy fluorinated wax at the competitive level.
But professional skiers have long urged caution, arguing that it’s too easy to cheat the chemical tests and that the difference in performance between fluorinated wax and its safer alternatives is too wide.
However, environmental campaigners warn that the continued use of fluorinated ski wax would be disastrous for the environment — and for the people who live near the slopes where it’s used.
“From the environmental perspective, the big kind of primary issue is that these compounds have incredibly long half lives,” said Kate Crawford, an environmental studies professor who has extensively researched PFAS exposure from ski and snowboard wax. “We know that they’ll be with us for centuries, if not longer.”
“I think it’s the reality that ski wax has the potential to significantly increase the concentrations of PFAS in the area around ski resorts,” she added.
High-risk pollution
Several scientific studies have documented elevated concentrations of PFAS around ski resorts, sparking concerns that the chemicals could be affecting people’s health.
One research paper tested levels of PFAS in the blood of professional ski waxers in Norway: They had up to 25 times as much PFAS in their blood as the general population. The median concentration in their blood was also 10 times higher than the European Food Safety Authority’s recommended “tolerable weekly intake.”
Another report found that one of the most popular fluorinated ski wax products in Norway’s largest sports stores had a concentration of PFAS substances 1,215 times higher than permitted by EU law.
“If PFAS are migrating from, say, soil into groundwater, and then that groundwater is being consumed by people in and around that ski resort that’s not great. If people are inhaling dust that is coming from waxing skis in a ski space, that’s also not great,” said Crawford.
But while Crawford said the fluorinated ski wax is likely the “primary source” of PFAS pollution around these resorts, others are wary of establishing a direct link given that forever chemicals are being detected in pretty much everything, from rainwater to eggs to breastmilk.
“It’s hard to separate ski wax from PFAS that might be raining down in the environment and that comes from water, like the oceans,” said Lisa Skedung, a scientist at the state-owned Research Institutes of Sweden. “So I think it’s hard to pinpoint the exact effect that PFAS in ski wax has had. But we know that elevated levels have been measured in some ski areas.”
Olivier Chevallier, a skiing coach based in the French ski resort Les Arcs, said there’s no question that fluorinated ski wax works better than its safer alternatives, especially in more humid conditions. But he’s come to think that the health and environmental risks are too high.
An EU-wide ban on PFAS chemicals would make his job — which also involves applying the wax to skis — “less dangerous,” he said. “We work 90 percent of the time without a mask so we’re breathing in all of that.”
To the finish line
Separate from the potential EU-wide ban on the toxic chemicals, the International Ski Federation and International Biathlon Union have announced a ban on the use of fluorinated ski wax — but have postponed fully implementing it several times in the absence of fail-proof, real-time testing technology.
“That largely comes down to the fact that PFAS analyses … are somewhat more complicated than some of the other chemistries that … environmental health scientists have been historically faced with,” said Crawford. “It is actually a somewhat challenging thing.”
In the absence of clear rules and testing, competitions have been marred by cheating allegations.
During the 2022 Winter Olympics, Finnish newspaper Iltalehti reported that unnamed “insiders” in the sport suspected German teams of using fluorinated wax. German team director Andreas Schlütter said it was “a lie,” adding: “The Finns must be disappointed over losing out on medals in the relay.”
Last month, the international bodies again announced a “full ban” on fluorinated ski-preparation products from the 2023-2024 season onward. Some Scandinavian ski wax experts have already expressed concern to the Finnish press.
Tobias Dahl Fenre, responsible for the maintenance of the Norwegian biathlon team’s equipment, previously said it would be “unjustifiable” to implement a fluoride ban. But thanks to new technological developments he is now cautiously optimistic that it will be workable.
“As of now I am confident that we can make a [fluorinated ski wax] ban work as long as everybody involved understands the difficulty of the task,” he said in an emailed statement. “I am confident that the technology and the machine Bruker Alfa 2 is working well,” referring to a chemical analysis machine that would be used to test ski wax at the starting line.
He added that in some conditions, the differences between fluorinated and non-fluorinated ski wax remain stark, which could result in longer race times and “harder work for the athletes.”
Nonetheless, he’s come around to the idea that winter sports can survive without the prized PFAS ski wax.
“In my opinion I don’t see the need of [fluorinated ski wax] as long as it is banned [at the] top level,” he said. “Development of fluor-free products will be fast and we will see potent products in the future … Certainly fluor is not good for us or the planet so let’s get rid of it.”
