Standards
What the markings actually record
Almost everything on this shelf carries a figure, and almost every figure gets read as a promise. None of them is. A DIN range records what a binding can be set to, not what you should set it to; a filter category records the light a lens was made for; a temperature band records the snow a wax was formulated for, and gets read as the air outside; a Mondopoint size is a length in centimetres that decides whether a boot fits at all. Each is exact, each is real, and not one of them says what will happen on your own day. Some are published documents; several of the things this trade calls standards are conventions with no publisher at all, and the difference shows up the day something will not fit. Each page says which it is, in four parts — what the document or the convention fixes, what it does not promise, what it works alongside, and which families on this site depend on it.
Bindings and boot soles
The documents that decide what clicks into what: the release scale and how a setting is calculated, the three alpine and touring sole standards, and why a boot bought this year may not fit a binding sold two years ago.
- ISO 11088 — Assembly, adjustment and inspection of the ski/binding/boot system Standard
- ISO 9462 — Alpine ski bindings: requirements and test methods Standard
- ISO 5355 — Alpine ski boots: requirements and test methods Standard
- ISO 9523 — Touring ski boots: requirements and test methods Standard
- ISO 13992 — Alpine touring ski bindings: requirements and test methods Standard
- GripWalk — a licensed walk-sole geometry, and the compatibility mark that goes with it Convention
Helmets and eyes
What a ski helmet is tested for and what it is not, how rotational protection is declared, and the filter categories that describe a light rather than a quality.
Avalanche equipment
The transmit frequency every transceiver in the world shares, the document behind it, what an airbag pack is certified against, and everything those documents deliberately leave to training.
Sizing conventions
Mondopoint and why it is a length in centimetres, head circumference against a letter, brake widths against a waist, and skin widths against a ski.
Market conventions
All-mountain, freeride, the flex index, the temperature band on a wax and the words that mean a binding is not included: quoted everywhere, defined by nobody.