BEIJING — A small army of workers fought the snow with brooms, flat-edged shovels and leaf blowers in a cacophony of scraping and high-pitched whirring that drowned out the public-address announcer's shouts for each skier fortunate enough to cross the finish line at the Yanqing National Alpine Centre.
The popular Winter Olympics mascot, Bing Dwen Dwen, waddled aimlessly through the empty grandstands as snow accumulated around the panda's saucerlike eyes. Staffers built snowmen wearing KN-95 masks, others fashioned snowballs or stared at the final stretch of the steep Ice River course that seemed to vanish into an impenetrable bank of fog and snowflakes.
The men who staggered away from the finish after the first run of the giant slalom Sunday morning had never experienced anything like it.
