After skeptics from all over the world eye Beijing as the front-runner to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, the Chinese city is defending itself against claims that lack of snow could be a serious consideration for the IOC moving forward. The only other candidate city is Almaty in Kazakhstan, which boasts abundant annual snowfall with an intense mountain backdrop that is more television friendly compared to the dry hills that surround the Chinese ski areas of Genting and Wanlong.
However, with political and economic instability in the Kazakhstan region, it seems that Beijing is almost a sure fire bet to win the bid this upcoming month—even if there is only man-made snow on the ground.
In an interview with ABC News, ski resort designer Wei Qinghua said, “There’s absolutely no problem with the water supply for snow making.” These sentiments were then followed up by Chinese Resort officials, who pointed out that South Korean and Japanese national ski teams recently used the proposed host mountains as their training grounds instead of the traditionally utilized European resorts.
A decision date for which city will hold the 2022 Winter Olympics is set for July 31st in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In the meantime, cities are fine-tuning their final presentations for the IOC with the hope that the Olympics will come to their home nation.