After 75 days of concerted efforts and day-to-day hard work, more than 200 Chinese and foreign employees of the Mountain Operation Team of the National Alpine Ski Center completed the preparation of mountain operations such as snowmaking, snow pressure shaping, safety protection, and ice-like snow production of the track on January 28, 2022, which is a milestone node of the National Alpine Ski Center.
Ice-like snow is a major feature of alpine skiing. In order to ensure that the top speed of the competitors can reach a glide speed of 130 to 140 kilometers per hour, the International Snow Federation has strict requirements for the hardness of the slopes, so snowmaking has become the most critical link.
According to the requirements of the competition, the surface of the slope must remain crystalline, similar to the ice surface, and this snow is called ice-like snow. The National Alpine Ski Center circuit uses an icy snow track, which is different from the pistes of the Volkswagen Ski Resort, which are similar to the ice surface and have a very high hardness, which need to be filled with water and knotted for a long time, and then manually cleared over and over again until a smooth slope is formed.
Ice-like snow can reduce the friction between the snowboard and the slope, making the slope not easy to be damaged, and ensuring that the surface of the slope is smooth and smooth in the case of high-speed turning by athletes, ensuring that the state of the slope is in a relatively perfect state regardless of the number of appearances of the players to ensure the fairness of the competition.
Image courtesy: Image from the National Alpine Ski Resort Operations team