Journal
Notre hub pour les avancées de l'enneigement, la découverte polymère et les insights opérateurs.
Mitchell McLennan
The peer-reviewed case against snowmaking as adaptation: what the data supports, what it overstates, and the efficiency variable both sides skip.
LireMitchell McLennan
The two snowmaking metrics that matter: kWh per m³ of snow and m³ of water per m³ of snow — plus the density and wet-bulb basis that makes them comparable.
LireMitchell McLennan
The snow-reliability line sat near 1,200 m in the Swiss Alps and rises ~150 m per 1 °C of warming — why elevation decides which resorts survive.
Mitchell McLennan
A snow gun makes roughly 50–250 m³ of snow per hour in good cold — but output is a conversion set by water flow and wet-bulb temperature, not a fixed spec.
Mitchell McLennan
Machine learning can design ice-binding molecules — it's been demonstrated. But the tools generate and rank candidates; the wet lab still decides.
Mitchell McLennan
Wet machine snow means droplets did not fully freeze in flight — a wet-bulb and humidity problem. How to read it and fix it at marginal temps.
Mitchell McLennan
A polymer additive changes how snow forms, not what it is — drier, denser, more durable snow in the marginal window, and trace polymer at ppm.
Mitchell McLennan
Peer-reviewed work projects as few as 14-24 French Alps and Pyrenees resorts snow-reliable on natural snow by 2050 - and 83-116 more viable only with snowmaking.
Mitchell McLennan
The polyacrylamide in a snow additive is the same class used to clarify drinking water — a stricter application. The 0.05% monomer bar, explained.
Mitchell McLennan
How the cold-water-swelling starch in a two-part polymer additive floods the droplet stream with physical nucleation sites - the non-biological counterpart to a bacterial nucleant.
Mitchell McLennan
Snow lances sip energy on cold terrain; fan guns reach the marginal wet-bulb window. How to choose per trail - and why an additive complements either, with no capex rip-and-replace.
Mitchell McLennan
The honest environmental case for anionic polyacrylamide in snowmaking: ppm dosing, low aquatic toxicity, a 30-year USDA record — and the not-readily-biodegradable caveat.
Mitchell McLennan
30 cm, 100 days, 7 winters in 10 - the benchmark that decides snow reliability, the elevation line beneath it, and why the marginal wet-bulb window decides a resort's future.
Mitchell McLennan
Thermal hysteresis and ice recrystallization inhibition are decoupled properties of antifreeze molecules. Why IRI, not TH, is the one that matters for snow.
Mitchell McLennan
Drier, more groomable machine snow comes from four controllable levers plus chemistry. An operator's guide to snow quality at marginal wet-bulb temperatures.
Mitchell McLennan
The regulated hazard in a polyacrylamide additive is residual acrylamide monomer, not the polymer. Why 0.05% is the ceiling that matters for snowmaking water.
Mitchell McLennan
Roughly 90% of Italy's ski terrain and 75% of Austria's is covered by snowmaking. Why made snow is now the base, not the backup — and what that implies.
Mitchell McLennan
α-Alanine is the smallest known ice-recrystallization inhibitor — 13 atoms. Why the tiniest antifreeze molecule shapes how synthetic AFGPs are designed.
Mitchell McLennan
PFAS in skiing is a ski-wax problem, not a snowmaking one. No snowmaking additive contains PFAS — and why SL6733 is PFAS-free and biology-free.
Mitchell McLennan
Snow gets icy with age through Ostwald ripening — large ice crystals grow at the expense of small ones. How recrystallization inhibition slows it.
Mitchell McLennan
Missing the Christmas–New Year window can cost a ski resort ~20% of annual revenue. Why the holiday weeks carry the P&L, and how snowmaking defends them.
Mitchell McLennan
The snowmaking equipment market is ~$2B, but that understates the opportunity. Here's the full value chain — from hardware to the ski economy made snow protects.
Mitchell McLennan
EU water law doesn't ban snowmaking additives — it sets water-quality outcomes and leaves permission to member states. Here's how the WFD and Drinking Water Directive actually apply.
Mitchell McLennan
Ice nucleation is the trigger step in snowmaking — the moment supercooled water freezes around a seed. It sets a snow gun's warm-weather limit. Here's the physics.
Mitchell McLennan
Artificial and natural snow are the same water, but form differently. Machine snow is up to 10x denser, lasts longer, and its quality is controllable. Here's the science.
Mitchell McLennan
Snomax is owned by TechnoAlpin, the largest snow-gun OEM, acquired in 2012 via Johnson Controls Neige. Why that vertical integration froze additive chemistry.
Mitchell McLennan
Snowmaking demand is projected to rise 55-97% by 2050 in tightening catchments. Which water levers actually reduce draw — and which just move it.
Mitchell McLennan
Snowmaking is ~17% of daily opex at large Swiss resorts and front-loaded into the months before revenue. What the line item contains and which levers move it.
Mitchell McLennan
Polymers are exempt from REACH registration under Article 2(9) — their monomers carry the burden. Why "REACH-approved" is not a thing, and what does apply.
Mitchell McLennan
Does a US snowmaking additive need EPA approval? How the 40 CFR 723.250 polymer exemption works, and why an anionic PFAS-free polymer is a candidate.
Mitchell McLennan
How ppm dosing works for snowmaking additives: 1 ppm is about 1 gram per cubic metre. A polymer additive doses at 6–7.6 ppm, metered upstream of the guns.
Mitchell McLennan
Cut snowmaking cost per cubic metre — not output. The five levers: wet-bulb timing, pumps, automation, water reclamation, and additive chemistry.
Mitchell McLennan
A snowmaking manager's checklist for evaluating an additive: regulatory fit, chemistry, dosing, wet-bulb gain, safety, and value-based pricing — in order.
Mitchell McLennan
An extra open day is worth what its date commands — peak-holiday days are a large multiple of shoulder days. Why the average misleads, and why it points to value-share pricing.
Mitchell McLennan
Snowmaking extends a ski season at both ends — earlier openings and spring durability — by converting marginal wet-bulb hours into open days. How it works, and where the limits are.
Mitchell McLennan
Biological additives (Snomax) nucleate ice; polymer additives nucleate and inhibit recrystallization. The two chemistries diverge on mechanism, snow quality, and regulatory pathway.
Mitchell McLennan
Austria and Bavaria bar all snowmaking additives — biological and polymer alike — under water-protection law. Not an EU ban: a regional 'water only' rule, explained honestly.
Mitchell McLennan
The peer-reviewed data on snow reliability, resort risk, and why snowmaking is the decisive adaptation - François 2023, Spandre, Abegg, IPCC, read straight.
Mitchell McLennan
Snowmaking uses ~2,900-4,000 m3 of water per hectare per season (~1 acre-foot per acre). Where it goes, why most returns to the watershed, and how to use less.
Mitchell McLennan
How Snomax works: inactivated Pseudomonas syringae and its ice-nucleation protein, what the risk assessments really found, and where it is restricted.
Mitchell McLennan
No - polyacrylamide is not readily biodegradable. But it is non-bioaccumulative, low-toxicity, and dosed at ppm. The honest environmental profile, for snowmaking.
Mitchell McLennan
Austrian snowmaking uses ~281 GWh a season and can be half a resort's early-season power bill. Where the energy goes, why it rises in warm spells, and how to cut it.
Mitchell McLennan
All-weather machines make snow at any temperature but use 6-65 kWh/m3. A polymer additive widens the window of your existing guns at ppm cost. The economics, compared.
Mitchell McLennan
There is no EU-wide ban on snowmaking additives. A country-by-country reference: where additives are prohibited, discontinued, or permitted — and why.
Mitchell McLennan
Too warm to make snow usually means too warm for the guns as run. The operator playbook for the marginal wet-bulb window - and where the hard limit sits.
Mitchell McLennan
Snowmaking cost is dominated by energy, not water, and it rises sharply as the air warms. A sourced breakdown of the cost per acre-foot and where savings hide.
Mitchell McLennan
What a polymer snowmaking additive is, the three jobs it can do inside a snow gun, how it differs from Snomax, and why the category is changing now.
Mitchell McLennan
Ski resorts cut snowmaking water and energy with four levers. There is a fifth almost nobody names: additive chemistry that lowers water and energy per m3 of snow.
Mitchell McLennan
ANSES rated artificial-snow risk 'null to negligible' and flagged source-water microbiology, not the additive. The primary document, read straight.
Mitchell McLennan
SL6733 is a two-component polymer snowmaking additive: an anionic PAM-co-acrylate plus a starch nucleant, dosed at 6–7.6 ppm for a modelled +3 °C wet-bulb advantage. What it is, how it works, and where it fits.
Mitchell McLennan
Snomax is not banned across the EU. It is restricted by national measures — discontinued in France, prohibited in Austria and Bavaria, approved in Italy, Switzerland and the US. Here's the accurate picture.
Mitchell McLennan
Snomax est le nucléateur biologique d'enneigement dominant — et il est soumis à des moratoires nationaux en France (moratoire 2005), Autriche et Bavière. Voici le guide complet des alternatives : comment fonctionne Snomax, comment se compare le tensioactif Drift, et comment SL6733, un polymère synthétique conçu pour l'exemption polymère de l'UE, comble la lacune réglementaire.
Mitchell McLennan
Un guide de terrain de la catégorie des additifs d'enneigement — nucléateurs biologiques, systèmes polymères, économie du bulbe humide, cadre réglementaire UE et ce que les exploitants doivent évaluer pour choisir une chimie.
Mitchell McLennan
L'IRI est le mécanisme qui contrôle la croissance des cristaux de glace une fois formés. C'est pourquoi la densité, la durabilité et la vitesse de fonte de la neige varient autant entre additifs. Voici la physique, la chimie et ce qui rend un polymère efficace.
Mitchell McLennan
DS-100 est la chimie en R&D de DeepSnow — alanine/glutamate alternés, polymérisation NCA, 91–94 % de réduction MGS à 100 µg/mL. Le moteur de découverte la produit.
Mitchell McLennan
Une note de terrain sur le fonctionnement de DeepSnow : laboratoire + moteur de découverte IA + portefeuille produits, intégrés verticalement, et ce qui s'accumule lorsque chimie et logiciel fonctionnent en boucle fermée.
Mitchell McLennan
La température au bulbe humide est le plafond thermodynamique de l'enneigement conventionnel. Voici ce qu'elle est, comment la mesurer, pourquoi une amélioration de +3°C vaut 2,4–2,8 M$ d'EBITDA par station par saison, et comment les additifs changent le calcul.
Mitchell McLennan
Une référence opérationnelle sur les cadres réglementaires qui s'appliquent aux additifs d'enneigement en UE, en Suisse et aux États-Unis — y compris les interdictions actives de Snomax en Autriche, en France et en Bavière.
Mitchell McLennan
Sous les scénarios centraux de réchauffement du GIEC, 98 % des stations de ski européennes seront à risque d'ici 2050. Voici la structure de ce risque basée sur les données climatiques, à quoi ressemble vraiment la compression de la saison et quels outils d'adaptation fonctionnent.
Mitchell McLennan
Un laboratoire de chimie, un moteur IA de découverte polymère et une pipeline produits en développement — pilotés par SL6733, un additif d'enneigement avec avantage de +3°C au bulbe humide.