The images started appearing on Instagram on Friday, March 23. Shots of what otherwise looked like a perfectly regular weather event. Snow-covered hills and peaks. Outdoor adventurers on snowshoes and families outside playing in the snow. There was only one small issue — the snow wasn’t white.
Many of the photos came from a ski resort near Sochi, Russia, home of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. In them, skiers and snowboarders tear down the slopes on what looks suspiciously like orange snow. The images make it seem as though the snow was made from Kool-Aid. Or maybe the photo was taken through orange-tinted ski goggles. But what you’re seeing isn’t some crazy new filter or the result of the photographer going overboard with fill-in edits — the snow actually is orange.
