One of the most iconic images of the Arctic for tourists is the blanket toss.  Originally done with walrus hide, today the blanket is of firm but manufactured fabric. Depending the size of the blanket, as many as 30 people could grab a handle and, in unison, toss someone was high as 20 feet. The blanket toss was originally a tool for the Inupiat. There are no trees along the Arctic Ocean and during the winter, massive ice cakes pile up along the shoreline.  These ice mountains, known as ivu, (pronounced EEEvooo), can be as high as a skyscraper. The blanket toss was a mechanism to allow a Native to rise above level of the ice cake for a clear view of the horizon – particularly to warn of any incoming polar bears. [See my books at https://authormasterminds.com/master-of-the-impossible-crime.]