INTERNATIONAL: Snowboaders from Australia and New Zealand have inspected the slopestyle venue in Zhangjiakou and on Tuesday ,February 1, have praised the man-made snow before the events kick off on Friday, February 4.

"The snow is actually amazing, the man-made stuff. I think because of how cold it is you have to be really aggressive with how you ride," said Zoi Sadowski Synnott, a Kiwi gold medal hopeful in the slopestyle competition.

"The snow is super grippy here," said 23-year-old Australian snowboarder Matt Cox, who is set to make his Olympic debut.

Usually when you get to man-made snow and you rip into an edge, for instance, it slides out on you pretty easily, but with the cold temps , it's really dreaming snow.

Beijing 2022 will be the first Winter Olympics to use almost 100 percent artificial snow, deploying more than 100 snow generators and 300 snow-cannons working flat out to cover the ski slopes.

The Olympic snowboarding competitions starts on Saturday, a day after the opening February 5, with the qualifying rounds for the women's slopestyle event. Beijing will mark the introduction of the mixed team snowboard cross, a frenetic sport with teams made up of two athletes - one woman and one man - who take turns on a course that features jumps and tight curves.

^{PHOTO: SOUNDBITES FROM NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIAN SNOWBOARDERS ON SNOW, SOUNDBITE FROM NEW ZEALAND COACH ON ADDITION ON RAIL, PHOTOS OF SNOWBOARDER IN COMPETITION}