Now that you’ve seen scenes from the capital city, Antananarivo – here are some final shots from the rural towns of Antsirabe, Fianarantsoa, and Ilakaka. For more, catch all of the previous articles in the East of Africa series!
10 hilarious (and painful, and frightening) ski lift videos
Unless you want to cling to the glove-shredding, arm-yanking tow rope of the bunny hill, if you’re going downhill skiing, you’ll be riding a ski lift. While ski lifts serve a functional purpose — getting you to the top of the mountain — they can also be a great source of entertainment. From improper dismounts, to technical malfunctions, to a chairlift that masquerades as a thrill ride, here are ten of the funniest, most painful, most frightening, and most novel ski lift videos.
Unlucky Ski Lift Operator
Since skiers aren’t always alert, ski lift operators must always be on their toes. This poor ski lift operator can’t seem to get a break — as soon as he’s ushered one fallen skier out of harm’s way, another tumbling skier dismounts from the chairlift. Either that slope is really icy — or happy hour just ended.
Ski Lift Face Plant
There’s a reason chairlifts have official dismount locations. Don’t try jumping off the lift just because you feel like it, or you might end up like this poor snowboarder. Ouch!
This ski lift thinks it’s a bird of prey! Like an osprey swooping down on its next meal, this ski lift grabs its victim by the neck, carrying him off into the nether. Gives new meaning to the words “ski lift,” right?
France’s Scary Up and Over Lift
Most ski lift rides up the mountain are uneventful — a time to reflect on the run you just completed or plan your next descent. Some chair lift rides are, however, an adventure in themselves. France’s Val d’Isere resort, for example, features one of the scariest ski lift rides in the world. Affectionately known as the “Up and Over” lift, this lift takes you up to the mountain peak and over to the other side of the mountain. It’s better than a ride at Six Flags!
Ski Lift in High Winds
Although ski lifts have been around for decades, Mother Nature occasionally takes her frustration out on the this technology, in the form of high-speed winds. Severe weather makes chairlifts inoperable — and potentially deadly — as seen in this horrifying video.
The Single Chair Lift
The world’s first ski lift opened in 1936 at Sun Valley Resort in Sun Valley, Idaho. This single-chair lift brought skiers up the mountain one at a time — a far cry from today’s high-speed, multiple occupancy lifts. Operating costs made these single-chair ski lifts obsolete years ago, but at Vermont’s Mad River Glen, the single chair lift lives on!
Evacuate the ski lift!
Newbie or not, no matter how long you’ve been skiing, when you’re riding a lift, getting stuck is always at the back of your mind. If you’ve ever wondered what happens when a chairlift stops functioning and needs to be evacuated, check out this video.
Controlled Chair Lift Destruction
A ski lift evacuation is scary, but this hypothetical situation is even worse! Loaded with simulated passengers (concrete blocks), this ski lift set for destruction in Winter Park, Colorado, demonstrates what would happen should all mechanics fail and launches the lift into a high speed rollback.
Devil’s Lake Ski Lift Rollback
But what happens if a ski lift rollback occurs WITH passengers aboard? It happened at Devil’s Lake Resort in Wisconsin. Skiers in this news report video describe what happened when the ski lift they were riding started rolling back.
Chairlift Tips for Skiing
Scared of getting into a chairlift accident? If you’re a beginner, check out this helpful ski lift video for newbies.
Want more? Don’t miss 10 Things You Probably Shouldn’t Do in a Kayak.
A year in the life of a Norwegian forest (time lapse video)
In 2005, Eirik Solheim shot a still picture of his back yard in Norway every day for an entire year. He aligned the pictures together and created a beautiful time lapse. Since his 2005 version, he’s managed to do a higher resolution movie in 2008 and finally, during all of last year, he put together time lapse that uses video clips.
Eirik chose the amazing Canon 5D Mark II for this experiment and I think it turned out even better than his still image versions, because he used the HD video function of the 5D Mark II.
Eirik explains the 2009 project:
This time I recorded 30 second video clips each time. My idea was that it would be possible to dissolve between the videos to get the same kind of time lapse effect, but this time with motion all the way. Snow falling, wind blowing etc.
2009 is over and I have now put all the clips I recorded through the year into a couple of videos. I recorded clips with a 15mm fisheye, a 24mm wide angle and a 50mm lens. I’ve made three different versions.
If Eirik shot thirty-second scenes once a week for a year, he likely ended up with 8GB of video per version, for a total of 24GB of footage. He then had to align and process each clip to correct for the fisheye distortion and edited it all together, with some smooth transitions between each scene. Some serious work.
The results really show off the sounds and the sights from the four seasons in Norway. His efforts took a lot of work and they’re well worth the recognition he’s getting. And as if this wasn’t enough, Eirik also provides a tutorial, complete with video on how to do your own time lapse movie on his award winning blog. Give him a digg if you enjoy it.
East of Africa: Scenes from Antananarivo (Video)
As the East of Africa series wraps up, I want to bring you a small collection of video that I hope will bring the previous articles and audio clips to life. First up: faces and street scenes from the capital city, Antananarivo. Enjoy!
“All You Need is Love” all around the world
Think back to one month ago on December 7, 2009. Was the Beatles hit “All You Need Is Love” running through your head, by any chance? You may have picked it up anywhere, because at 1:30 p.m. GMT, in 156 countries across the world, people were singing it, all at the same time. Watch it above — it’s pretty cool.
Starbucks invited musicians to sing the Beatles classic together to raise awareness for the Global Fund, an organization which helps fight AIDS in Africa.
If you missed the big day, there’s still plenty of time to get involved. Visit starbucksloveproject.com to watch new videos, and if you upload a video of yourself singing the song, Starbucks will make a contribution to the Global Fund. All you need is the Beatles. There’s also a Love Gallery where you can submit drawings.
Or, if you just need to sing along with someone, check out Heather Poole’s interview with the “Hey, Jude” singalong guy at Newark Airport, Interview with Josh Wilson.