WEIRD ANDWILD

All Snow is Fake at the Olympics for theFirst Time

Therehas always been fake snow at the Winter Olympics, but not all of it was fakeuntil this year. The Beijing Olympics will be all artificial snow.The city ofZhangjiakou, 100 miles northwest of Beijing, whichwill host freestyle skiing, snowboarding, biathlon, ski jumping, andcross-country skiing events, is cold, but they only got a dustingof snow each winter.

China's Olympic bid noted it would need an army of snow machinesand 49 million gallons of water to get the slopesready. However, they will be using as much as 528 milliongallons.170 fan-powered snow guns and 30 fanless snow lances"work around the clock" there.

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