No snow? No problem. How Beijing made the white stuff in time for the Olympics
The Beijing Games are just the latest winter sporting event to use nearly all human-made snow for competitions. Winter sports experts say this is just the new reality.
BEIJING — The bright, white Yanqing ski course northwest of Beijing sticks out on the brown and dry landscape of the surrounding Xiaohaituo Mountain.
The venue was the site of highly anticipated men's and women's downhill ski events at the Beijing Winter Games on Monday. Underneath each of these top-tier athletes' skis was almost entirely artificial snow.
Though temperatures at this Olympic venue are downright frigid, real snow is not easy to come by.
"Where can
