Oldsailor65 Loc: Iowa

Staggering satellite images paint revealing picture of the Beijing Winter Olympics

Fascinating satellite images from high above Beijing, China, and its surrounding areas are opening viewers' eyes to the not-so-wintery reality of the 2022 Winter Olympics.

What are the details?
The pair of photographs, released by NASA earlier this month, shows the staggering amount of f**e snow used to make it possible for the Chinese capital to play host to the Games.

In one image of the Xiaohaituo Mountain in Yanqing, one can clearly see the white splash of artificial snow dumped on the venue terrain, separating it from the miles upon miles of surrounding brown mountains.

Yanqing, a suburb of Beijing located about 45 miles northwest of the city, was selected to play host to alpine skiing and sliding events such as bobsled, skeleton, and the luge due to its steep mountain faces. But while the terrain itself is suitable, the lack of snow has made hosting the events a sizable challenge.

According to Time, 100% of the snow used in the 2022 Winter Games will be artificial, and to t***sform the terrain, Olympic organizers had to make use of nearly 300 fan-powered snow guns and 83 lance-style snow guns from Italian firm TechnoAlpin.

"The output from those machines was easy to spot in satellite imagery of the area," remarked NASA. "On January 29, 2021, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 captured an image of the downhill trails covered with artificial snow. The water used to make the snow gets piped in from the nearby Foyukou and Baihepu reservoirs."

In another image, this one of downtown Beijing, a mostly arid cityscape can be seen but with certain plots of land covered in more f**e snow.

While the city center was set to host mostly indoor events such as figure skating and hockey, Beijing did construct a "big air" stadium for aerial skiing and snowboarding on top of a former steel mill in nearby Shougang.

Other images shared of the "big air" stadium posted on social media have raised eyebrows and sparked criticism globally as commenters compared the Shougang backdrop to a "dystopian" industrial center and a "hellscape."

What else?
In its report on the NASA images, Yahoo News noted that China claims the energy used to power its arsenal of snow machines will primarily be renewable and thus won't leave too much of a carbon footprint.

However, some are concerned about the massive amount of water needed to produce the snow, especially in a region where water scarcity has long been a concern.

China reportedly estimated that it will need something like 50 million gallons of water to produce artificial snow throughout the Games. Artificial snow is produced using air and water.

But Madeleine Orr, a sports ecologist at the University of Loughborough, warned, "If the region has enough warm days and snow melts, water use could really climb."

She went on to describe the Winter Games in Beijing as "a bit of a test case," saying, "Researchers haven’t examined the consequences of 100% f**e snow melting rapidly."

While artificial snow has been used in large capacities to host the Games before, some athletes have also raised concerns about how an 100% artificial snow terrain could affect their performance.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/satellite-images-beijing-olympics-f**e-snow?utm_source=theblaze-dailyAM&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily-Newsletter__AM%202022-02-12&utm_term=ACTIVE%20LIST%20-%20TheBlaze%20Daily%20AM

WinkyTink Loc: Hill Country, TX

I just wonder how much bribery with the IOC took place before awarding the games to Peking. Duck.

LogicallyRight Loc: Chicago

I have been saying for years, that the cost of building these Olympic venues, is an astronomical cost for mostly tear down venues. I have always been in favor of Greece every four years for the Summer Olympics. Build the infrastructure and reuse it every summer for individual world championships scattered through the summer. And the same thing for an Alps of possibly Norway for a permanent home for the Winter Games. And again, world championships every year, scattered about the season. Just to keep the venues operating and up to repair and updates.

I also have another idea for eliminating countries as competitors, and making it purely about the athletes. But that is another story.

Logically Right

Gatsby

And no one is watching, ratings are tanking.

Oldsailor65 Loc: Iowa

Good Ideas

Canuckus Deploracus Loc: North of the wall

Same thing for the 2018 Korean Olympics... Except it was heralded as an amazing venture and proof of the commitment the SOKO government had for the games

teabag09

That would be too logical but wouldn't generate enough $$$ for the right people. Mike

LogicallyRight Loc: Chicago

You are probably right on that money point. Sort of why I suggested we build permanent venues.