Big Air Shougang, Sports complex in Gucheng Subdistrict, Beijing, China
Big Air Shougang is a snow sports facility in western Beijing that features a large jump ramp positioned among former industrial buildings. The main ramp rises about 60 meters (roughly 200 feet) high and ends at a platform from which riders descend a sloped runway before launching several meters into the air.
The site arose on the grounds of a steel mill that closed in 2011 due to pollution controls, while the facility itself was completed in 2019. The old cooling towers and factory halls remained as backdrop, and the new jump ramp was built directly beside them.
The facility turns one of Beijing's last large steel mills into a competition ground where concrete stands sit beside rusted cooling towers and old conveyor structures. Visitors experience the unusual contrast between modern ramps and the faded colors of the dormant industrial buildings around them.
Visitors reach the facility most easily by metro or bus and can spot the smokestacks from a distance. Tickets are available on-site or online when competitions run, while on other days only part of the grounds may be open.
The facility is recognized as the first permanent venue of this kind worldwide and sits in a flat industrial landscape instead of mountainous terrain. Blast furnaces once stood here and supplied the metal for many Olympic stadiums in Beijing before they shut down.
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