There is no real snow at this year’s Winter Olympics

How does this year compare to previous years?

Over the last year, popular resorts have seen their skiing seasons grow shorter. Holiday goers are trying to squeeze runs in before the snow smelts for spring, and for professional skiers and snowboarders, this means a smaller window of opportunity to train for the games.

As far as Winter Olympics go, analysis of the trends shows that the amount of snow falling and sticking to mountaintops is diminishing, even in the most likely of locations.

For example, at the games in Vancouver in 2010, trucks and helicopters were tasked with bringing snow from other parts of the country when snowmaking machines couldn’t keep up with warmer temperatures.

When the games were held in the Russian city of Sochi in 2014, temperatures reached a record high for a Winter Olympics (20C). Organisers had to rely on about 1,000 football pitches worth of man-made snow.

Unnatural snow is icier, slushier, and more slippery, so it should be unsurprising that injuries were far more common – occurring six times more than seen at previous games.

Natural snow is not reliable, but fake snow could be worse

Although this is the first time almost 100 percent artificial snow has been used for a Winter Olympics, reports from Loughborough University in London show that as climate change continues, this will likely be the reality at future events.

Scientists have predicted that out of all 20 previous locations where the Winter Olympics has been held, only 10 will still have enough natural snowfall to host the games by the year 2050. At our current rate of warming, the number of eligible locations will continue to drop over time, and by 2080 we’ll be lucky if we have just one.

Experts are already predicting that the next winter Olympics in 2026 – which are scheduled to take place Milan – will not have temperatures low enough to support snow made by machines.

And although artificial snow can act as a replacement in the right conditions, the chemically treated water used to create it is harmful to biodiversity. It forms a hard layer of ice called ‘soil frost’ which disrupts the growth of plant life beneath.

Already, Beijing’s water supply has been fully depleted using snow machines for the event, forcing the city to divert water from its southern rivers to meet the demands for fresh power.

Not to mention, creating fake snow is costly and requires a lot of manual work.

China has reported that the cost of hosting the games has cost them $3.9billion. This would make the 2022 Winter Olympics one of the least expensive in the last twenty years, but speculation has risen around whether this figure is accurate.

China’s government is obviously highly centralised and controlled – and has made a habit of prioritising its international reputation over facts – think rumours of skewed numbers surrounding COVID cases and the hidden Uyghur camps as examples.

Investigation by Insider has suggested that hosting the competition (and the need to create enough artificial snow for it) would be more likely to have costed in excess of $38.5 billion, over ten times the official set budget.

What do the pros think?

Some athletes and officials say the consistency of artificial snow is beneficial because it creates a ‘more consistent surface from the top of the bottom (start to finish)’ of a course.

But despite having completed intense training and harbouring a competitive nature, other top athletes are wary about competing on the fake stuff during future Olympic events.

Artificial snow has a harder surface, meaning athletes travel faster down the slopes, and falls can result in worse injuries when they occur. One cross-country coach said landing on it ‘can feel like falling on concrete.’

Unlike presence of real snow, which would also cover both sides of slopes and offer a billowy cushion when veering of course accidentally, artificial snow only covers the main path. This means that wiping out to either side could mean a fast impact on rocks and dirt at high speeds.

Olympians aren’t just worried about their own safety, though. Many have watched their favourite natural ski spots dwindle in potential over the years and have concerns for the future of the planet.

British freestyle champion Peter Speight said that addressing climate change should take priority over mitigating the abandonment of a wintertime Olympics.

Speight called the ability to make snow ‘helpful’ but it ‘uses large amounts of water and energy’ while doing nothing to solve the climate crisis and in fact creates more strain on natural resources.

Clearly, the use of man-made snow for large-scale events has serious drawbacks for budgets, athletes, and the natural landscape. Taking action to halt global warming is the only real way to mitigate each of these issues and hopefully see the return of cooler temperatures, instead of (quite literally) burying them.