The Beijing Winter
Olympics are the first Games to use 100% artificial snow as temperatures in the
region hardly ever reach sub-zero levels. Winter Games are known for visuals of
the world’s best athletes competing amid snow-capped hills. But with the
weather disallowing, China has decided to make its own snow, according to a CNN
report.

The need for artificial
snow comes amid a rise in global temperatures. A recent study has found that
only one out of the 21 cities that have hosted the Winter Olympics amid natural
snow in the last half-a-century will be able to host another by the end of the century.
With natural snow turning erratic, sports bodies are turning to the fake.

Artificial snow,
however, is not without problems. The snow uses immense amount of energy and
water to make, and the resource requirement goes up further as the planet warms.
Fake snow is made using snow machines.

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At the Olympics,
nearly 1.2 million cubic meters of snow is being used to cover 800,000 square
metres of competition space. The International Olympics Committee estimates
that nearly 40 million gallons of water will be needed to produce the required
amount of snow.

TechnoAlpin, an
Italy-based snowmaker, is preparing the snow for the Games. “We are very proud
to say that we are the only company providing snow-making systems for the
Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics,” said Michael Mayr, an executive at TechnoAlpin,
to CNN.

While the energy
needs of snow-making are certainly a concern, an additional problem is that
sportspeople feel artificial snow is dangerous and may lead to injuries.

Clement Parisse, a
French cross-country skier, told the US-based news network that while it is
common for athletes to compete in artificial snow, it tends to become very
slick and icy which leads to additional problems.

While the Winter
Olympics in Beijing are the first Olympics event using fake snow, they are by no
means the first sporting event to use it. As temperatures rise, more and more
snow sports across the world are becoming dependent on this resource-intensive,
water-guzzling form of creating ice.