Closed steel mill sends Olympic skiers - not smoke - skyward

BEIJING (AP) — Alex Hall is accustomed to a grand mountain vista. The American freestyle skier could get used to the view atop Big Air Shougang, though.

“The like, crazy smokestack things in the back are pretty cool,” he said. “You get to see some of the mountains in the background, you got this temple here, the city’s that way, the steel factory. You get to see a lot of stuff.”

Anytime he and his fellow big air competitors come back to China, plenty of people will get to see them, too.

Freeski big air opened its Olympic competition Monday at the world’s first permanent, city-based big air facility, a repurposed steel mill on the west side of Beijing that’s made a stunning backdrop for one of the Games’ newest sports. Freeskiing is taking on big air for the first time as a Winter Games discipline, while the snowboarders will be here next week after debuting the event in Pyeongchang four years ago.

The 200-foot big air structure was built on the site of the former Shougang Group steel mill, China’s first state-owned plant that helped the country become a world leader in steel production. Its billowing smokestacks provided work for thousands but also darkened the sky over Beijing’s Shijingshan District, contributing to the city’s air pollution problem.

China closed the factory in conjunction with the 2008 Summer Games, seeking to clean up its image, as well as its air.

The sprawling campus has been converted into a bizarre, yet beautiful, city oasis.

Rusting factories and machinery remain, but the space between has been filled by grassy lawns, glassy ponds and a good deal of greenery. One of the blast furnaces was given a face-lift and turned into a steampunk-style event space with shops, commercial offices and a museum. The yards host dance showcases in the summer,...