Lynn Lau
Northern News Services

Inuvik (July 01/02) - Long before the invention of the modern trampoline, the Inuit had the blanket toss.

Instead of springs, two dozen or more people stand shoulder-to-shoulder, pulling simultaneously on a circle of canvas or skin to create enough lift to send a person flying.

Long ago, people say, Inuit living on the flat coast would launch one another into the air for glimpses of the sea ice and potential prey.

The blanket toss has since evolved into a spectacle for special occasions.

Whenever people want to see the blanket toss, they call Abel Tingmiak.

The 57-year-old Inuvialuk has been doing the blanket toss ever since 1966, when organizers of the Arctic Winter Games first reintroduced the traditional game to Inuvik.

Tingmiak has since travelled all over to compete or do demonstrations. At the Indian Eskimo Olympics in the 1970's, he was tossed on a huge walrus skin blanket. He doesn't remember how many metres he went, but he says he flew high enough to touch the ceiling of the tallest gymnasium in Alaska and set a height record that lasted 15 years.

If it looks dangerous, that's because it is. Tingmiak has been tossed right off the blanket three times in his life, and he's fallen on the blanket-pullers below more times than he can remember. "Once, I hit my head on the concrete," he says. Fortunately he wasn't injured. "I didn't want to be afraid, so I just went back in again."

To avoid new mishaps, he always coaches his volunteers to pull as hard as they can to create even tension across the canvas. "Because if one side is stronger than the other, when they throw me up, I go one way and they have to run underneath to try to catch me."

When they're pulling right, Tingmiak can do full rotations like a figure skater before landing. He makes it look much easy - much easier than it is, as Thea Mueller found out. The 25-year-old visitor from Germany got a privileged blanket ride during Aboriginal Day festivities in Inuvik.

"It's very hard to keep your balance," she said afterwards. "It's hard to keep your legs straight. A lot of power comes from the blanket. It feels like they could throw you way far away."