Every morning three soldiers, dressed for warmth, march up the ski run that leads to our hotel.
They march in file, in stride, alongside the chairlift that has been shut down for the Winter Olympics, to the halfway point of the piste and stand guard.
Exactly who they are expecting to come tearing down the slope isn't clear, but the whole process is indicative of a Games where security and the pandemic loom over every moment.
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The effort from China is enormous.
"Part of these Games was always going to be that it's the COVID games," Australian chef de mission Geoff Lipshut said a few days after arriving.
"Our athletes are being very well looked after."
The Omicron variant swept the globe at the worst possible time for these Olympics, forcing an almighty rework from games officials.
Masks are compulsory everywhere; temperatures are checked everywhere.
The notorious test on arrival in Beijing is more sensitive to remnants of the virus, catching hundreds of people out, including Australian athletes Tahli Gill and Katie Parker.
Crowds are limited to a couple of dozen members of the Communist Party, sitting in a socially distanced-checkerboard pattern waving flags when instructed to by volunteers.
The definitive memory of these games, for those lucky enough to be here, will likely be the volunteers in head-to-toe protective clothing.
There are tens of thousands of these volunteers.
They were the first things we saw leaving the plane at Beijing Airport, they clean, they test, they deliver food and complete maintenance on the newly built resorts in the mountains.
They are a crucial part of keeping COVID-19 out of the village and the venues.
They also live away from their families for the duration of the Games inside the "enclosed loop" – a series of interconnected isolation bubbles that have been established for the Winter Olympics.
Every person is tested every day and you're not permitted to leave the loop.
Anyone that does faces a fortnight in a Chinese quarantine facility.
These strict rules deny our athletes the usual perks of Olympics, the visits to city centres, celebrations with teammates and the progressive party of the Olympic village.
But for gold medallist Jakara Anthony, the rules assisted her focus.
"I actually think the bubble is excellent," she said before winning the women's moguls.
"I feel as if the bubble is our safe haven."
The Australian team has the benefit of a live-in nutritionist preparing food for them in the village and the much-hyped barista on site.
"Coffee is a performance-enhancing stimulant," cross country skier Phil Bellingham said straight-faced when questioned about the barista by a foreign reporter.
Other teams haven't been so lucky.
The Norwegian delegation has complained about food, the Swedes are concerned about the cold.
And it is cold.
Zhangjiakou, the mountain city in China's Hebei province that plays host to most of the snow events, has had more days below -20C than above.
The weather is better in Beijing, where the ice events are being held and where the Bird's Nest became the first venue to host opening ceremonies of both the summer and winter Games.
In Beijing, robots both prepare and deliver food in a large food hall that also features a robotic bartender mixing cocktails.
The major hubs are linked by a bullet train that has been established for the Games and operates for people inside the closed loop only.
It cuts the three-hour drive into a 50-minute trip.
The train is impressive, comfortable and slick.
Screens on board regularly update passengers on the travel speed, at times boasting 350km/h.
This is the Beijing organisers were hoping to show off to everyone before Omicron stormed the globe.
"The world is turning its eyes to China," President Xi said.
"And China is ready.
"China will do its best to deliver to the world a simple, safe and splendid Games."
Simple.
Nothing about these Games was meant to be simple – this was meant to be China's coronation as a winter sport nation and global winter power.
The big air jump launching athletes into the sky surrounded by an edgy, urban defunct steel mill wasn't designed for simplicity.
The robotic waiters, ultra-fast train and lights along the great wall of China – not simple.
Organising those thousands of volunteers and millions of tests can't be simple.
But the Games have gone ahead.
Put simply, that might be the crowning achievement of Beijing 2022.
