FAQ
Answers for ski-resort operators, regulators, journalists, and partners. We update this as we learn what people actually want to know.
DeepSnow is a polymer discovery platform for the snowmaking industry. We combine a wet chemistry lab, an AI-driven polymer discovery engine, and a developing product pipeline. Our lead product, SL6733, is a polymer additive designed to make ski-resort snowmaking more efficient. DeepSnow is operated by SnowLabs Limited, registered in Ireland.
SL6733 is a two-component polymer additive dosed at 6–7.6 ppm into resort snowmaking water. Component X is an ultra-high molecular weight (15–20 MDa) anionic poly(acrylamide-co-sodium acrylate) copolymer. Component Y is a cold-water-swelling starch nucleator. Together, the system is engineered to raise the wet-bulb temperature ceiling for snowmaking by +3°C — unlocking 300–500 additional snowmaking hours per resort per season.
No. SL6733 is in active R&D. We are targeting EU-resort lab pilots for the 2026/27 season and commercial deployment for 2027/28. If you are an EU resort interested in participating in a pilot, the waitlist is open at deepsnow.tech.
TWT ADS Snow Tech (twtadsnowtech.com) markets a polymer-based liquid snowmaking additive at 6 ppm in the same broad chemistry class as SL6733 (anionic polyacrylamide-co-acrylate plus a starch nucleator). The published differences are material: TWT claims a +2°C operating threshold; SL6733 targets +3°C wet-bulb advantage — a 50% larger range gain. TWT does not publish polymer molecular weight, charge density, or residual-monomer specifications; DeepSnow publishes all three (15–20 MDa, 30–40 mol% sodium acrylate, <0.01% residual acrylamide). TWT markets a single product; DeepSnow operates a wet-lab plus an AI polymer discovery engine producing the DS-100 sAFGP and DS-400 pipeline. The full side-by-side is at deepsnow.tech/vs/twt-ads-snow-tech.
Snomax is a biological product — inactivated Pseudomonas syringae bacteria — that has been restricted across major Alpine markets — France (2005 moratorium), Austria, and Bavaria — on ecological-precaution grounds, despite ANSES classifying the risk as “negligible to low”. SL6733 is a synthetic polymer additive being engineered specifically to qualify under existing EU polymer-exemption and US TSCA frameworks. The two technologies are fundamentally different in regulatory category, mechanism, and supply chain.
These jurisdictions classify Snomax as a biological product whose application to alpine watersheds at scale raises ecological precaution concerns. The bans pre-date this analysis and are documented in national/regional environmental regulation. SL6733, as a synthetic polymer with biodegradable polyacrylamide-starch chemistry, is designed to sit cleanly inside the existing EU polymer-exemption pathway and is not subject to the same biological-product framework.
IRI is the mechanism by which certain polymers and antifreeze proteins slow or halt the growth of large ice crystals at the expense of small ones — a thermodynamic process called Ostwald ripening. In SL6733, the carboxylate (COO−) groups on the high-MW polymer chains disrupt Ostwald ripening at growing ice surfaces, producing finer, denser, more durable snow.
Wet-bulb temperature is the lowest temperature water can reach via evaporative cooling at a given air temperature and humidity. It is the thermodynamic ceiling for conventional snowmaking — above it, water cannot freeze into snow before it falls. SL6733 is engineered to raise this ceiling by +3°C, opening hundreds of operating hours in marginal conditions that would otherwise be lost.
SL6733 is specified to have <0.01% residual acrylamide, which puts the operational-dose residual well below WHO drinking-water guidance. The polymer chemistry is biodegradable and the base materials are designed to be compatible with the potable water sources commonly used in resort snowmaking systems. We engineered for this from the start because most EU resort water systems share infrastructure with downstream watersheds.
No. SL6733 is drop-in compatible with existing snowmaking infrastructure. It dissolves in any water source, is injected at the inlet at 6–7.6 ppm, and works with existing snowguns and pumps. The operator does not need to change capital equipment.
DS-100 is the next-generation product in the DeepSnow pipeline, currently in R&D. It is a series of synthetic antifreeze glycoprotein polypeptides (sAFGPs) with an alanine/glutamate-alternating backbone produced by NCA polymerization. In lab assays, DS-100 candidates show 91–94% mean grain-size reduction at 100 µg/mL — significantly higher IRI potency at lower dose than SL6733. Designed by the DeepSnow AI discovery engine, engineered around existing intellectual property in the antifreeze-protein space.
DS-400 is an R&D-stage surface-grafted IRI polymer for ice-rink resurfacing systems. The same IRI mechanism that improves snow quality is applied to control ice-crystal growth on rink surfaces between resurfacings — producing harder, faster, more durable ice.
DeepSnow is the brand and platform. SnowLabs Limited is the operating company, registered in Ireland. The website and product line operate under the DeepSnow brand; the contracting entity is SnowLabs Limited.
It is software that ranks candidate polymer architectures by predicted ice-binding affinity, IRI potency, and manufacturability — then proposes the next experiment for the wet lab to run. The engine is what produces the DS-100 and DS-400 pipeline. It operates in a closed loop with wet-lab feedback and is designed to be IP-aware, engineering candidates around existing competitor claims.
We have not disclosed commercial pricing. SL6733 is dosed at 6–7.6 ppm — a tiny fraction of resort water volume — which makes the per-cubic-metre additive cost a small share of total snowmaking economics. The modelled EBITDA uplift is $2.4–2.8M per resort per season from longer operating windows and improved snow yield. Pricing will be set against the value created.
DeepSnow is operated by SnowLabs Limited, registered in Ireland. The team is distributed; primary operational ties are in Italy and the broader EU.
Resort operators can join the pilot waitlist at deepsnow.tech. The 2026/27 EU lab-pilot cohort is finite — early-cohort slots include integration setup, on-site dosing configuration, snow-quality monitoring, and operator training. Reach out via the contact form on the homepage.
We are growing the wet-lab and discovery-engine teams. Open roles are posted on LinkedIn; for unsolicited applications, use the contact form on the homepage with a short note on what you would build here.