Farmer ski team in Yanqing, host district of Beijing 2022

The Haituo Mountain in Yanqing district of Beijing will be the location at which alpine skiing and bobsled competitions will be held when the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics start. In July 2017, young villagers there established the first ever “farmer ski team” to promote winter sports among local residents.

The “farmer ski team” consists of 18 local villagers living in Zhangshanying Town of Yanqing. Before the team was established, Lang Enge, now the team leader, gave up his sheep caretaker occupation for fear of its bad impact on the environment.

Though they are young, all the 18 villagers have around 10 years of skiing experience. To promote the sport, they have so far trained 5,000 individuals since last winter. “Beijing 2022 will be held on our home soil, so we want to do something for the Olympics,” Lang said.