The winter Olympics has begun, and being an avid skier before I got old, I watch it.
Just watching the snowboarding....
It's all artificial snow. You can see the greenery in the background.
Dunno if this is a sign of global warming or a triumph of technology! ;)
Just watching cross country skiing....
Even worse! They've laid an artificial course through dry ground! :worried:
Didn't even realise it was happening until someone mentioned it yesterday. Not that I'm particularly bothered but I've seen no mention on TV at all.
I've seen more snow in Tamworth, Staffordshire :
in the Snowdome
Quote from: Bealman on February 05, 2022, 08:32:58 AMDunno if this is a sign of global warming or a triumph of technology! ;)
or alternatively, a triumph of Politics over practicality? ::) :-\
Watching as much as possible.
I have been to the Beijing and surrounding areas (on a TEFS steam chasing trip) way back at Christmas / New Year 1987. It was very snowy up at the great wall area, but the venues aren't particularly high altitude. but it is very cold so, once there is snow it will stay. We returned from Changchun (-35 degrees) in the far north east to Beijing where it was only -3 and we were all stripping to shirt sleeves!
Every event is being hosted on artificial snow. Seems pretty irresponsible to me, sets a precedent. I look forward to the Texan winter Olympics. :doh:.
Quote from: njee20 on February 06, 2022, 10:16:49 AM
Every event is being hosted on artificial snow. Seems pretty irresponsible to me, sets a precedent. I look forward to the Texan winter Olympics. :doh:.
understand the leading contenders for 2030 are Qatar and Rio... ...
I'm just looking at women's freestyle - looks like the slope is in the middle of a power station or coal mine or something!
No snow there, and the cooling towers have "Bejing 2022" on them! :worried:
It was built on the site of a former steel mill:
https://www.dezeen.com/2022/02/03/big-air-shougang-beijing-olympic-ski-jump-teamminus/ (https://www.dezeen.com/2022/02/03/big-air-shougang-beijing-olympic-ski-jump-teamminus/)
A few weeks ago there was an item on the news here in the Netherlands about the snow making.
As you said it is all artificial (altough it is just frozen water ;)) and they showed the snow machines and lots of bulldozers preparing the site.
Jan
Yep, water that definitely just freezes itself! No wholly unnecessary machinery involved at all :hmmm:
I really enjoy the Olympics, but I do wonder how much Beijing paid to 'win' against cities that have... y'know. the right conditions.
The problem is there aren't enough large cities close to high mountains. With 21st century economics a 'small' ski resort or small city can no longer host a huge event such as the Olympic games. Chamonix (1924) and even Innsbruck (1964 and 1976) would struggle to manager these days I fear.
The last truly small place to host largely 'in one place' was Lillehammer 1994. Even Albertville 1992 the skiing was actually up at established resort Val d'Isere. in 2010 Whistler (121km distant) was billed as 'Vancouver' and in 2006, skiing at Sestriere was billed as part of Torino (100km). In both the latter cases snow conditions were 'OK'
In 2026 the host city is officially billed as a two-parter Milano / Cortina d'Ampezzo, so at least they're coming clean at last, because Cortina is 400km from Milano. There's a decent chance that Cortina will have some 'real' snow
The Olympics is an absolute behemoth of an event; the summer Olympics even moreso. The spread of venues is always significant, look at London 2012, they used football stadia in Newcastle and Cardiff for some games; all the sailing was in Weymouth, some of the cycling and kayaking were a significant distance from London too. The cost of hosting is astronomical, I get that. That doesn't mean that London should bid for the Games, and use the North Downs with a load of fake snow, though!
I read with interest that Oslo was the favoured venue for 2022, but cancelled their bid after the IOC made bizarre requests, such as demanding they be given access to all advertising media in public spaces for use of IOC partners. Norway, being a democracy, couldn't acquiesce, and in the end it came down to China or Kazakhstan... :hmmm:
Anyway, I didn't intend to get into the ethics behind hosting the Olympics!
I'm tending to think along the lines of the post above by Gordon.
I just watched a bunch of blokes hurtling down a course on snowboards, the nature of the course being that whole lot must have been constructed.
I shudder to think of what that cost.
The new Olympic sports have basically killed the romantic Alpine locations.
I do always enjoy the curling! My guilty pleasure.
Quote from: njee20 on February 06, 2022, 10:16:49 AM
Every event is being hosted on artificial snow. Seems pretty irresponsible to me, sets a precedent. I look forward to the Texan winter Olympics. :doh:.
The snow was coming down hard during the downhill the other day. It was beautiful.