As you prepare to watch the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic games you will soon be aware that China does not necessarily have an abundance of natural snow in its alpine resorts.
How will you know? The runs will be white with snow and the backdrops the bland brown earth landscape.
Have you own opinions on that, but we could safely say (without researching every resort) virtually all snow resorts now have sophisticated snowmaking systems that either add to natural snow fall at resorts, or in the case of many of the Beijing Winter Olympic runs, form the basis of their snow pack. The one statistic in favour of the snowmaking crew at the Beijing venues is temperatures are cold, an ideal ingredient in the snowmaking process.
The alpine ski racecourse locations will not be the first resorts to ever have brown sections on the perimeter of smooth groomed ski slopes, or icy ones as the ski racers like them.
Behind the Beijing games is the sophisticated TechnoAlpin snowmaking system, the name you may be familiar with at your own local resort. They are world leaders in snowmaking systems, or as we refer to……. “man made snow”. It has been stated that the Beijing Winter Olympics could use an estimate 49 million gallons of water.
What the racers think of the courses will be determined later, but expect the runs to have had a fair ratio of water to air so that they are rock hard (read icy). Not the way recreational skiers like their groomed snow.
We asked the TechnoAlpin people for some information which you may be interested in.
100% TechnoAlpin Olympic snow
TechnoAlpin has designed and provided the snowmaking systems and equipment, as well as the associated technical services in support of the Yanqing National Alpine Ski Centre, Genting Snow Park, Guyangshu Ski Center and Shougang Big Air site, which are the venues of the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The snowmaking facilities for this major winter event are spread over 3 areas:
The first is Yanqing National Alpine Ski Center which is the venue for the alpine events, with the most important developments carried out in terms of snowmaking equipment.
The second is Zhangjiakou Chongli Distric, with the venues of Genting Snow Park as well as Guyangshu Ski Center, which includes the National Ski Jumping Centre, National Cross-Country Centre and National Biathlon Centre. They host the Nordic, Biathlon and Freestyle events.
Finally, the facilities in the capital city of Beijing, Shougang venue, which host the Big Air events, as well as the other indoor ice events.
The expertise of the Engineering and planning department of TechnoAlpin allowed to find the best technical solutions for each site, taking into account the local specifications: land topography, resources availability and management, snow production objectives etc.
The large-scale construction works, and the installation of the various snowmaking systems have been carried out over a period of 3 years, particularly in the midst of the pandemic. However, despite the constraints, the various projects were completed on time by the TechnoAlpin teams.
In total, more than 350 snow producers, both fan and lance technologies, 7 machine rooms and pump stations, housing 51 high-pressure pumps and 9 cooling towers have been installed to ensure snowmaking and the preparation of the slopes for the events at the different sites.
In order to ensure optimal production and maximum performance, each installation has been designed with full automation. Thus, the management of resources – water and energy – associated with snow production will be constantly optimized, while offering the best conditions on the slopes. Snow production is controlled by the ATASSplus control software, the software developed by TechnoAlpin.
TechnoAlpin in China
The first TechnoAlpin branch in China opened in 2013. It is located in Sanhe, Hebei Province, near Beijing, and now employs about 25 people, mainly in service, project management and sales. In 2020, a second branch with around 35 employees followed in Zhangjiakou, some 200km northwest of Beijing, a co-host city of the 2022 Winter Olympics. All the snow guns still come from the headquarters in Bolzano. In addition to purchasing, administration, logistics, a technical department for research & development, and quality control, the Zhangjiakou site is primarily home to a production facility for accessories for snow guns for the Chinese market (steel parts, like towers and undercarriages) and various snowmaking system components and to an extensive warehouse. The two branches generate annual sales revenues of € 15-20 million.
