Almost All The Snow At The 2022 Olympics Is Artificial & Here's How Beijing Pulled It Off

How do you host the Winter Olympics when you don't have any snow?

You make the snow yourself.

Beijing is making Winter Olympic history this year as the first host city ever to rely entirely on artificial snow, and it's no small achievement. The city averages only about 6 millimetres of precipitation in February, and most of that is rain because the daily high is often about 4 Celsius.

In other words, it's not a particularly snowy city unless you try really hard to make it that way. And China has been trying really hard.

It's estimated that about 185 million litres (49 million gallons) of water will be needed to make all the snow at the Beijing Winter Games, which is about seven times the amount of water that can fit in the big EPCOT Center ball at Disney World in Florida.

An Italian company called TechnoAlpin is behind the whole operation, and they've been furiously churning out artificial snow at the various venues around Beijing.

So how does one coat entire mountains in snow? TechnoAlpin mixes ice crystals with compressed air and water to create a "snow gun," and the resulting snow is pretty much identical to the real thing.

The company says it's installed over 350 "snow guns" and "snow lances" around the Olympic venues to ensure that there's always white stuff on the ground for competition.

The coolest part? Everything is fully automated and optimized, right down to the size of the snow crystals.

The company started preparing for the Games in 2019, with most of the installation being carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, critics are warning that this man-made snow could pose a risk to athletes and the environment.

"This is not only energy and water-intensive, frequently using chemicals to slow melt, but also delivers a surface that many competitors say is unpredictable and potentially dangerous," stated a report by the Sport Ecology Group at the U.K.'s Loughborough University.

Maddy Orr, one of the lead researchers of the report, says Beijing's lack of real snow points to the larger problem of climate change — and covering it up with artificial snow isn't going to help.

"Beijing 2022 is not unique in facing issues with lack of snow: this is a recurring issue in mountain areas all around the world," she said in a news release.

"Our goal was not to name and shame Beijing, rather we wanted to illustrate the challenges at hand with snow sports moving forward and hopefully start a conversation about how sport events might adapt to a changing climate."

So whether you're watching the Olympics on TV or online, just keep in mind that all that beautiful snow is part of the show — and if you ever plan on visiting Beijing, you probably won't be needing your snow boots.