Snow man

British artist Simon Beck. [Photo provided to China Daily]

In two days, Beck had finished a mandala flower design on the slope of a local Fulong ski resort. This small town will host most of the ski events for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

"Usually I do a drawing on natural snow," says Beck. "But here is piste snow, which makes it harder to draw with footprints, ... I have to dig with a spade a little bit and that's why it took much longer."

A typical creation takes Beck about one day's work outdoors, after one or two hours of preparation indoors.

An Oxford University graduate in engineering, Beck worked as a cartographer before he became what he calls a "snow artist".

"All high-tech precision equipment is useless to me. I just need a compass to orient my way and some chocolate bars for energy," says Beck, who trained himself for years in orienteering and mapping.