World Eskimo and Indian Olympics
We may be missing the Olympics at home in London but we had the opportunity to attend the second day of the Eskimo Olympics while in Fairbanks. There were Eskimos and Indians from Alaska, Canada and even as far away as Greenland attending. The whole setup was fairly amateurish but a great deal of fun.
We managed to see three of the events .
Eskimo Stick Pull
2 competitors sit face to face with their feet touching . Both grasp a short stick between them and the winner is the one who can make the loser let go by pulling the stick towards themselves. Its all about the power in the legs and the grip.
Alaskan High Kick
In this a ball is hung from a beam. With one hand on the floor and the other hand holding the opposite toe you must kick the ball with the free foot and end up back in the start position with only one hand and one foot touching the ground.
Greased Pole Walk
Very simple. Walk as far as possible down a greased pole without falling off.
In addition we saw a Native Baby and Regalia contest at the Olympics. They were so cute but it was fairly alarming how many animals had died in the making of their costumes – seal, wolverine, arctic fox etc.
FromAtoB 
Alaska Natives have in their entire history been required to use the animals as a resource in order to stay alive – there are no fibers to grow – no flax, no “cotton of the arctic” – not even wool ( you can use Musk Ox but good luck shearing one and surviving ) – so as a life-long Alaskan, seeing the furs as clothing, even decorative, doesn’t make me bat an eye. I found it interesting that you noticed it in a concerned sort of way -“alarming” – and so I see that your perspective is different. It’s good to see things in another viewpoint. Keep ’em coming.
deepmud from Expedition Portal.
Hope u were supporting the uk eskimo contingent at the Olympics!