Weatherwise, Colorado is a state divided. In the mountains, we’re shoveling snow off our roofs. In the flatlands, we stored our shovels weeks ago, convinced, until recently, that we’d never see the stuff again. Everybody but Sawin, that is. His Littleton lawn is regularly buried in snow. Sawin’s motto: “Don’t just think snow; make it!” His company, CHS Snowmakers, not only sells snow machines he designed but also a powdered polymer called Insta-Snow. We asked him to share his snowmaking secrets. – Vicky Uhland, special to The Denver Post
How does Insta-Snow work? All you have to do is add six parts water to one part powder. The powder absorbs the water, and then it swells up to about 100 times its dry size. At first the reaction makes it warm, and then it rapidly cools as the water begins to evaporate. Basically, it doesn’t matter what the temperature is as long as the water is liquid and not frozen.
Can you ski, snowboard or snowshoe on it? How about building a snowman? I have heard of it being used for a small indoor ski slope in Japan but never have seen it used that way here. The flakes don’t bond to each other like regular snowflakes – they kind of fall through your fingers like sand. People mostly use it for Christmas decorations, science-class experiments and displays for stores and photo shoots. We have not sold Insta-Snow in large quantities since last summer due to the difficulty of getting it, so people can’t use it to cover their yard. But for Christmas of 2002 a person in Englewood covered their front yard with Insta-Snow, and we have a photo on our website of a kid playing in it.
So how come your yard looks like a blizzard hit it? It’s because of my Cornice home snowmaker (at left), which is very cool. It’s a small snowmaker I designed myself to use with a garden hose and an air compressor. The last five Christmases it has been white at my house. I made 12 inches of snow four weeks ago and there is still 6 or 8 inches left. A friend of mine in southwest Denver has one of my snowmakers and is building a rail slide for his kid. Several people across the country are using it to make snow for terrain parks and sledding hills in their backyards.
Why hasn’t the snow in your yard melted by now? It’s denser than natural snow. A foot of natural snow might have an inch of moisture, but a foot of the snow I make has about 6 inches of moisture. It’s a really firm snow.
What’s the most unusual use you’ve seen for Insta-Snow? I’ve heard of people who squeeze it in their hands to help with arthritis.
