Camden Snow Bowl

17th Annual National Toboggan Championships Camden Snow Bowl Camden, Maine Feb. 2-4 207-236-3438 camdensnowbowl.com Admission for spectators is free. Competitor registration -- the deadline is today -- is available online. Fee is $50 for two-person sled, $75 for three , $100 for four . Children's teams (grades 4-8) are $25 per sled. Pre-registration does not confirm entry. Directions: Camden is about 185 miles or almost four hours from Boston . Take Interstate 95 north into Maine to I-295 north to exit 28 at Brunswick and follow Route 1 north to Camden.

CAMDEN, Maine - There will be formal ceremonies, world-class athletes, and blinding media glare when the Winter Olympics open in Vancouver. Across the continent in Maine, they’ve swapped the formalities for frivolity at the National Toboggan Championships. The 20th annual event that kicked off yesterday featured participants in outrageous outfits and old-school wooden toboggans. Teams had names like Redneck Racers, Knuckleheads, Runaway Brides, and Sliding Jesuits. Even the Maine State Prison staff entered a team.

CAMDEN, Maine - There will be formal ceremonies, world-class athletes, and blinding media glare when the Winter Olympics open in Vancouver. Across the continent in Maine, they’ve swapped the formalities for frivolity at the National Toboggan Championships. The 20th annual event that kicked off yesterday featured participants in outrageous outfits and old-school wooden toboggans. Teams had names like Redneck Racers, Knuckleheads, Runaway Brides, and Sliding Jesuits. Even the Maine State Prison staff entered a team.

Looking for a few inside tips? The Globe has surveyed the scene from top to bottom and taken notes: Best move to the dark side Last season, Sunday River added night skiing for the first time on weekends and holidays. The trend will continue this year, with a 12-hour ticket good for access to under-the-lights terrain serviced by the Chondola and South Ridge Express lifts. It’s a welcome option for skiers and boarders who arrive for a late check-in on Fridays and want to get in a few runs before dinner or bedtime.

Looking for a few inside tips? The Globe has surveyed the scene from top to bottom and taken notes: Best move to the dark side Last season, Sunday River added night skiing for the first time on weekends and holidays. The trend will continue this year, with a 12-hour ticket good for access to under-the-lights terrain serviced by the Chondola and South Ridge Express lifts. It’s a welcome option for skiers and boarders who arrive for a late check-in on Fridays and want to get in a few runs before dinner or bedtime.

CAMDEN, Maine -- If, as Andy Warhol predicted a generation ago, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes, the competitors in next weekend's annual National Toboggan Championships will earn their accolades nine seconds at a time. But tobogganers are familiar with the fleeting nature of fame, and with the unusual course over which they will try to make their mark -- the tiny Camden Snow Bowl, a vest-pocket Alpine ski area on Maine's mid-coast, a region better known for ocean views than for snowy slopes.

CAMDEN, Maine - When the kids go stir crazy from being cooped up in winter, consider this cure for boredom: Pack them into the car and drive to Camden. Needing a midwinter getaway last year, my wife and I arranged for a long weekend here with our three children. Our main point of interest: the Camden Snow Bowl, which had been a regular day trip for the two of us and our friends when we lived in Maine. Now that we have kids, we understand its allure more completely: It's the ideal place for enjoying the cold and the snow with the little ones.

People of above-average girth can excel at sports besides sumo. Weight equals speed in tobogganing, as you'll quickly learn at the Camden Snow Bowl Toboggan Run in Camden, Maine, one of the greatest wood chutes in the United States. Screaming riders hurtle down a slope and spin out across a frozen lake. It's just $1 a sled using a rented toboggan or half that when you bring your own ride. Stay at the nearby Hartstone Inn (800-788-4823, hartstoneinn.com , from $100), where the owners and perhaps your fellow guests can regale you with tales of the annual National Toboggan Championships.

Maine ski areas are offering free ski and snowboard lessons to encourage new skiers to take to the slopes. The Ski Maine Association says Maine is among 34 states participating in learn-to-ski promotions next month. From Jan. 3 to 9, eight Maine ski areas — Bigrock, Camden Snow Bowl, Lost Valley, Mount Abram, Saddleback, Shawnee Peak, Sugarloaf, and Sunday River — are offering a limited number of free packages that include lift tickets, ski or snowboard rentals, and first-time lessons with an instructor.

Hundreds of toboggan teams are waxing their sleds for the 22nd annual U.S. National Toboggan Championships. More than 400 two-, three- and four-person teams are participating in this weekend's races at the Camden Snow Bowl in Camden. Team registration and toboggan inspections take place Friday, with races on Saturday and Sunday The tongue-in-cheek competition features teams with zany names dressed up in outlandish costumer sliding down a 400-foot-long, ice-covered wooden toboggan chute and onto a frozen pond.

CAMDEN, Maine - When the kids go stir crazy from being cooped up in winter, consider this cure for boredom: Pack them into the car and drive to Camden. Needing a midwinter getaway last year, my wife and I arranged for a long weekend here with our three children. Our main point of interest: the Camden Snow Bowl, which had been a regular day trip for the two of us and our friends when we lived in Maine. Now that we have kids, we understand its allure more completely: It's the ideal place for enjoying the cold and the snow with the little ones.

17th Annual National Toboggan Championships Camden Snow Bowl Camden, Maine Feb. 2-4 207-236-3438 camdensnowbowl.com Admission for spectators is free. Competitor registration -- the deadline is today -- is available online. Fee is $50 for two-person sled, $75 for three , $100 for four . Children's teams (grades 4-8) are $25 per sled. Pre-registration does not confirm entry. Directions: Camden is about 185 miles or almost four hours from Boston . Take Interstate 95 north into Maine to I-295 north to exit 28 at Brunswick and follow...

CAMDEN, Maine -- If, as Andy Warhol predicted a generation ago, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes, the competitors in next weekend's annual National Toboggan Championships will earn their accolades nine seconds at a time. But tobogganers are familiar with the fleeting nature of fame, and with the unusual course over which they will try to make their mark -- the tiny Camden Snow Bowl, a vest-pocket Alpine ski area on Maine's mid-coast, a region better known for ocean views than for snowy slopes.

The Ski Maine Association is kicking off its third annual "Learn to Ski and Snowboard for Free Week. " Nine ski areas are taking part in the program, held from Jan. 8 through Jan. 13. The ski areas are donating a total of 141 ski and snowboard packages that are filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Participants get ski or snowboard equipment, lessons and limited beginner lift access. In the past, the openings have filled up within days of the announcement. The participating ski areas are Bigrock Ski Area, Black Mountain, Camden Snow Bowl, Lost Valley, Mount Abram,...

The Christmas and Hanukkah holidays are almost upon us, and you know what that means: Soon your children will be running around the house like maniacs, fighting with their siblings, tracking snow all over your floors, and breaking stuff. Fun! Alas, the 10-day festival of cabin fever known as School Vacation can be interrupted here or there for a quick jaunt, a day trip, or even an overnight away. Here are a few places where you can keep the whole family amused next week. The most obvious place to entertain the kids is right here.