Winter typically arrives early and stays late in Maine’s western mountains, much to the delight of skiers and snowboarders.

And while the ground around your house may be brown, Sugarloaf/USA in Carrabassett Valley is gearing up for one of its biggest events of the year.

Starting this morning, the nation’s best skiers will begin competition at the TD Banknorth U.S. Alpine Championships.

According to Bill Swain, the communications manager for Sugarloaf/USA, spectators can expect to watch and interact with all of the biggest names in U.S. skiing.

“Names like Daron Rahlves, Ted Ligety and Bode Miller got swarmed by kids today,” Swain said Friday. “[The skiers] were signing autographs and signing helmets. The whole arsenal from the men’s and women’s teams are here and ready to close out their competitive seasons.”

Maine native Kirsten Clark, Olympic gold medalist Julia Mancuso and three-time World Cup winner Lindsey Kildow will also compete in the event, which pits the nation’s best against a crop of aspiring skiers eager to prove themselves against world-class competition.

The championships will run through Wednesday. All races will be held on the Narrow Gauge trail, and Swain said snow conditions are perfect.

“The conditions are ideal for racing, from what I’ve heard from the competitors in the race,” Swain said. “The conditions are firm and fast, so it should make for a pretty exciting race from start to finish.”

Swain said spectators will be able to keep track of each skier’s speed during the downhill.

“They have a speed trap set up so the scoreboard is showing the speed,” he said. “[It has been] high 70s [during training], and the course is getting faster each day, so I expect we’ll see something close to 80 [mph on Saturday] when they cross the speed trap.”

And even if you’re not a skier, Swain said you’ll be able to find a vantage point to watch the races. Organizers are running a passenger snow cat that will ferry 20 spectators at a time to the finish area.

Swain did issue a word of caution, however: Come prepared.

“Even though the weather’s pretty nice and pretty warm, you’re standing in snow at the finish, so proper footwear is encouraged.”

The complete schedule of the TD Banknorth U.S. Alpine Championships:

. Today: Men’s downhill, 9:30 a.m.; women’s downhill, 11 a.m.; opening ceremonies, parade of athletes and fireworks at 6:30 p.m.; autograph signing session with athletes at 7:40 p.m. in the base lodge.

. Sunday: Men’s super G, 9 a.m.; women’s super G, 12:30 p.m.

. Monday: Men’s slalom, 9 a.m.; women’s slalom, 11 a.m.

. Tuesday: Men’s giant slalom, 9 a.m.

. Wednesday: Women’s giant slalom, 9 a.m.

Drift boat contest winner drawn

If you’re one of the several dozen folks that I may have (inadvertently) guaranteed that your name would pop out of the box when we drew our “Win a Drift Boat Trip” contest champ, I’ve got just one thing to say to you.

I’m sorry. You didn’t win. Again.

I especially send this apology to the Jim Snows of the world, who have made no bones about the fact that they really, really want to win this trip.

Snow, the friendly fishing expert at Van Raymond Outfitters, makes regular stops by the Bangor Daily News booth during the annual Eastern Maine Sportsman’s Show.

Back in 2003, when we started this contest, it seems Snow may have thought up interesting excuses for his very frequent visits to our booth. Nowadays, he readily admits that he’s trying to stuff the ballot box … not that the tactic has paid off yet.

This year’s winner (sorry, Jim) is Tom Nichols of Penobscot.

Interestingly, it seems that his winning ticket – which he dropped into the box during the show – was the only one he filled out.

Nichols will join guide Dan Legere and me June 18 for a fun day of fishing on the East Outlet of the Kennebec River.

He joins Doug Saunders of Rockland (2005), Jason McCubbin of Orrington (2004) and Mike Horvers of Milford (2003) as winners of our popular annual contest.

This year, we received a record 781 entries for the trip. They came from Fort Kent and Madawaska, Mariaville and Sargentville, Greenfield Township and Argyle Township.

Heck, we even got an entries from Vermont and Massachusetts.

A regular BDN reader in Lubec took top prize in the Most Colorful Entry category, as he submitted several sticker-covered entries by mail.

My personal favorite: The envelope festooned with a cartoon sticker featuring Marvin the Martian … not that my preference makes a difference, nor helped him in his attempt to win the prize.

There are a couple of reasons for the contest’s popularity, I figure.

First, it’s completely free (which, of course, appeals to us frugal Mainers). And second, when it comes to fly fishing guides, Dan Legere is top notch.

He’s funny, smart, and a born teacher who helps every angler who fishes with him improve.

To all of you who stopped by and said hello at this year’s show, and took the time to fill out an entry blank (or five), thank you.

And for the Jim Snows of the world … well … I am sorry. But I’m glad you keep playing.

Coming up on ‘Going Outdoors’

As you may have read Thursday, the recent dry weather has thrown a wrench in the plans of canoe racers, as today’s St. George River Race has been postponed until next Sunday (April 2).

While whitewater paddlers love plenty of the wet stuff, the drier than normal conditions are good news to another group.

Fly fishers often find themselves standing on the banks of Maine’s rivers and streams early in the year as the spring runoff makes wading impossible.

But if there’s not enough water to paddle? You guessed it: It must be perfect for wading.

Luckily, the St. George is one of those Maine rivers that’s open to fishing year-round.

And that’s why I’ll be there today, gathering some footage for Monday’s ‘Going Outdoors’ TV segment.

Our original game plan was to film the canoe race, but the postponement caused cameraman Dave Simpson and I to scramble a bit.

Then we realized a few things: Both of us like to fish. The St. George will still be there. And there’s no sense in wasting a perfect March Saturday sitting indoors, wishing we had something to film.

Therefore, we’ll both be fishing … uh, working … on the St. George this afternoon.

You can see how our fishing trip turns out Monday during ABC-7’s 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.