Man-made snow is a sight common at ski resorts across the world, and the Winter Olympics are no exception. Created by pumping water and pressurized air through snow cannons, artificial snow is used during warm winters, when the slopes are untenable with natural snow alone. Artificial snowmakers will occasionally add extra powders or proteins to the water to ensure that the droplets freeze before hitting the ground, and the various other processes involved in keeping the snow intact at warm temperatures gives artificial snow a completely different chemical structure than natural snow. Man-made snow does its job well, but increasing reliance on it—not only in the Winter Olympics, but also in recreational winter sports—highlights the urgency of the climate crisis. Without acknowledging this, we also fail to address some key environmental issues that artificial snow may itself create on the slopes.

The first use of artificial snow at the Winter Olympics was in 1980, where an unseasonably warm winter led to bare slopes and panic among organizers. They brought in equipment to create man-made snow in competition areas. From there, its usage has only grown: 80% of the Sochi Olympics’ snow was man-made, marking the warmest Winter Olympics on record at the time, and 90% of the snow at Pyeongchang came from artificial snow cannons. The 2022 Beijing Olympics rely almost entirely on man-made snow. Pictures have circulated of a zoomed-out view of hills where only the event tracks are covered in snow, while the surrounding area is dirt.

However, artificial snow is not only an Olympic sight. It has become increasingly popular at resorts around the world as the coldest parts of the world are warming faster and long snow seasons are untenable without the support of snow cannons. The climate emergency has scientists predicting that snow in the Sierra Nevada snowpack could disappear by 2050, and the Rocky Mountains could follow quickly. The rise in the use of artificial snow in the past few decades is proof of how swiftly cold regions are warming due to fossil fuel emissions and carbon dioxide trapped in the atmosphere. Over 50% of the snow on the Swiss Alps today is artificial. In local areas like Whistler and Seymour, the mountains may depend on man-made snow for the entire snow season.

While it looks identical to natural snow, the differences mean everything to skiers and snowboarders in sporting events. Icy textures and slippery conditions, resulting from the high moisture content, may pose risks to skiers and snowboarders. Many athletes have raised concerns about how the increase in artificial snow at the Olympics may increase the risk for competitors. The consistency makes it faster and more dangerous, and it hurts more if you fall outside of the course. Where there should be a snowbank, there is only muddy ground for the athletes to cushion themselves on. Several crashes occurred at the Beijing Olympics, and the severity was heightened by the snow’s iciness.

Runoff artificial snow has also been shown to decrease vegetation on mountains and destroy parts of the terrain. Furthermore, man-made snow requires massive amounts of resources. The 2022 Olympics were estimated to need almost 50 million gallons of water to produce the snow for each slope, and despite promising to reuse the melted water after the Olympics, studies into the environmental effect of artificial snow demonstrate that evaporation takes up to 40 percent of the water involved in man-made snow. Along with these environmental issues, a study also demonstrated that the consistency of artificial snow impedes vegetation growth on mountains and can ultimately have long-lasting effects on the local ecosystem.

While this problem does not have an easy solution, people should be aware of the dangers of artificial snow before turning to it as the quickest and safest way to extend the ski season. The rise in the use of man-made snow speaks to the rapid rate at which ice caps are melting and temperatures are rising all across the world. As the Beijing Olympics come to a close and we turn our eyes to the next Winter Olympics (Milano Cortina 2026), we will continue to see artificial snow dominate winter sports. The use of artificial snow over the last few Winter Olympics speaks to a much greater problem facing humanity today: that rather than addressing the root cause of the issues—ice caps melting and rising temperatures that shorten winter seasons—humans instead look towards artificially-driven systems that will temporarily resolve them. These often present greater risks for not only our environment but the people for whom the systems are meant to exist, like with athletes and artificial snow.

In other words, we find the right solutions to the wrong problems—and there’s no telling how long those solutions may last.

Works Cited

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Bellisle, Martha. Climate change: Athletes flag the dangers of manmade snow, January 12, 2022, https://omaha.com/sports/olympics/climate-change-athletes-flag-the-dangers-of-manmade-snow/article_7e1366a1-e2ac-53c6-9aab-fa8a7f0bfd68.html.

CBC News. Whistler-Blackcomb surviving on artificial snow, December 18, 2013, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/whistler-blackcomb-surviving-on-artificial-snow-1.2469566.

Climate change and fake snow could make the Winter Olympics ‘dangerous,’ study finds, January 26, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/26/sport/climate-winter-olympics-snow-intl/index.html.

Conti, Kristen. All the Olympics Injuries of the 2022 Winter Games So Far, February 7, last updated February 13, 2022, https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/sports/beijing-winter-olympics/all-the-olympics-injuries-of-the-2022-winter-games-so-far/2751511/.

Dhanesha, Neel. Artificial snow is nothing like the real stuff, February 10, 2022, https://www.vox.com/2022/2/10/22926270/artificial-snow-beijing-2022-olympics-climate-change.

Grünewald, Thomas, and Fabian Wolfsperger. “Water Losses During Technical Snow Production: Results From Field Experiments.” Frontiers in Earth Science, 2019, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2019.00078/full, doi:10.3389/feart.2019.00078.

Hiolski, Emma. What’s artificial snow, and how is it made? , January 30, 2018, https://cen.acs.org/articles/96/i6/What-s-artificial-snow-and-how-is-it-made.html.

Hudek, Csilla, et al. “Mid and long-term ecological impacts of ski run construction on alpine ecosystems.” Scientific Reports, vol. 10, no. 1, 2020, pp. 1-10, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-67341-7, doi:10.1038/s41598-020-67341-7.

Lescaze, Lee. “Winter Games ‘Go’, Snow or No Snow.” Washington Post, January 15, 1980, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/01/15/winter-games-go-snow-or-no-snow/2796ec54-5a3c-42e6-87a1-458a92cde2c3/.

Vigliotta, Cam. Artificial Snow Saved the Winter Olympics. Here’s How It’s Made, February 18, 2022, https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/winter-olympics/artificial-snow-saved-the-winter-olympics-heres-how-its-made/ar-AAU29Om.

Walker, Shaun. Sochi Winter Olympics on track to be warmest ever, February 11, 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/feb/11/sochi-winter-olympics-warmest-eve

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