Skiing into the unknown: Beijing's man-made Olympic pistes

YANQING: When the alpine skiers take to the piste at the Beijing Winter Olympics this week, they will do so on artificial snow in an often drought-ridden region.

To the outsider, the idea of hosting ski events in Yanqing, in a largely uninhabited area north of the Chinese capital that is often parched, might seem alien.

The National Alpine Skiing Centre has been man-made, tucked away up an anonymous valley.

Streaks of white are etched into a barren-looking series of steep rocky hills - sparsely forested and in places covered by huge sheets of wire netting.

The hills were once part of the Songshan National Nature Reserve.

Thousands of gallons of water have been used to create the snow on the course. There is no outlying snow to speak of.

The venue is linked to downtown Yanqing district by a brand-new motorway that shoots through a series of long tunnels and culminates in a raised jumble of roads.

A string of red bubble-cars quickly transports skiers up to the slopes past the sliding centre on the left that will be used for luge, skeleton and bobsleigh events, while the Olympic Village for the mountain competitors is on the right.

Soldiers man the mid-station of the lift, decked out in green greatcoats and oversized caps.

A road used for bus transport for the final ascent winds circuituously below the bubble-cars, marked with the venue's logo and sporting Olympic stickers.

Passengers enjoy the luxury of heated seats - and warmed salopettes are welcome with temperatures falling to minus 15 degrees Celsius and made even colder higher up the course with the significant chill from a strong wind that constantly snaps the national flags.

The approach to the two pistes that will be used for the speed events - the downhill and super-G - and