Countdown to Beijing 2022 | Snowmaking begins at National Alpine Skiing Center in Yanqing

BEIJING, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- With the 2022 Winter Olympics 80 days away, organizers have begun to make artificial snow at the National Alpine Skiing Center for the event.

The National Alpine Skiing Center located in the Yanqing competition zone is set to host the Alpine skiing competitions at Beijing 2022.

Wu Gaosheng, an operation manager at the National Alpine Skiing Center, said that the snowmaking work is expected to last until mid-January.

A series of water-conserving and recycling designs have been put into place to optimize water usage for snowmaking, human consumption, and other purposes, according to the Beijing 2022 organizing committee.

Around 90 percent of snow used at the Alpine skiing venue for the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics was reportedly artificial, while artificial snow was also a feature of Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014.

The National Alpine Skiing Center is the first Olympic-standard alpine ski venue in China with a maximum vertical drop of about 900 meters. It has seven slopes.