Toboggan run by winter, extremely painful waterslide by summer: U.S. National Toboggan Championships in Camden

It doesn't look that steep at first.

It's not until the chute operator lifts the safety bar and the nose of your sled begins to tip forward on its elevated platform that you get a momentary glimpse of the impending, ice-packed slide down the mountain.

But by then, you're tucked into the front end of a wooden toboggan, another rider's snow boots in your lap and his legs like a trap around your waist, both of you caught in that slow-motion second before stationary turns into slingshot.

Okay, maybe calling it a "slingshot" is a bit much, but I assure you, 40 MPH on a toboggan feels pretty darn fast.

Competitors in the U.S. National Toboggan Championships, taking place Feb. 10 to 12 at the Camden Snow Bowl, will find out first hand what it's like to rumble down the 400-foot-long chute and coast out onto a frozen pond. First timers might focus on their costuming (a cape and a pair of underpants are a surefire hit) and hitting the finish line without losing knuckle flesh to the unforgiving wooden chute walls.

Returning riders will want to go faster.

There are tricks to enhancing a toboggan's performance. There must be. But I don't know any of them because competitors tends to keep tight-lipped about their trade secrets prior to race weekend.

With 417 teams expected to participate in the two-person, three-person, four-person and experimental categories, the annual championships require teams to consider minute tobogganing details, from aerodynamic positioning to greasing the sled. And they'll word tirelessly to perfect their form...in the two minutes before race time.

And they'll dress up in Civil War regalia.

And they'll dress up like edibles.

Jim Jefferson of Searsport, a three-time toboggan champion, did offer some tips.

"The guy with the beard goes in front. He breaks the wind," he said. As for the best product to slick up a sled, he says he prefers skunk oil.

Teams with the best times during the preliminaries on Feb. 11 will return Feb. 12 for the finals.

Winners receive two prizes: a trophy and bragging rights for the year.

In addition to the toboggan runs, the three-day schedule includes a bonfire, food vendors, music, a chowder challenge, fireworks over Camden Harbor, children's activities, mechanical bull rides and a pancake breakfast. The Camden Snow Bowl will also be open for skiing, snowboarding and tubing.

Registration for the event has closed, but the public is welcome to watch the tobogganing and enjoy the festivities. A free shuttle service will be available to attendees.

FOR MORE Information about the U.S. National Toboggan Championships can be found at www.camdensnowbowl.com.

FOR A HELMET CAM view of the experience, check out this video by our digital visuals specialist Gabe Souza:

Live free, pie hard: National Pie Day Gala Jan. 23

Monday is National Pie Day.

It's a time to celebrate all that's good and righteous in this world.

In honor of the Crust we Trust comes the National Pie Day Gala at Mayo Street Arts in Portland on Monday. The gala, which starts at 5:30 p.m., includes Synchronized Interpretive Pie Dance, Pie Eating Contest (to enter, email portlandpiecouncil@gmail.com), Charity Pie Art Auction, Pietry (pie-esque poetry), Historic Pie Moments and Pie Theater.

Admission in $3. And a pie.

While anyone can dump canned filling into a pre-made crust and call it "pie," this is a day to rise above your mediocre pie beginnings and reach for the berry-filled sky.

It's a day to think outside the pie pan, beyond the flaky crust.

It's a day for Stargazy Pie.

Or not.

Maybe Paula Deen's Twinkie Pie is more up your alley.

More likely, you have a favorite recipe you only share with people you gave birth to or are about to kill. So keep your secret ingredients to yourself, but bring the pie to the gala.

Some Pie Pedagogy:

Pie crusts are swell at holding in their insides, so they've historically been a good foodstuff to carry on long travels. Essentially, for folks like the Ancient Greeks, pie was Tupperware.

160 BC, Roman statesman Marcus Porcius Cato noted the recipe for the most popular pie/cake of the time. It was called Placenta.

Mmm! Pie!

FMI: National Pie Day Gala on Facebook

Chairlifts are for sissies: Full Moon Hike at Mt. Abram

Lycanthropes probably wouldn't be interested in the monthly Full Moon Hikes at Mt. Abram in Greenwood. They'd be too busy growing fur and long claws capable of puncturing human skin, and taking care of all the howling and whatnot that tends to take up a good portion of a werewolf's time.

But folks who don't typically shapeshift with the appearance of the full moon will appreciate the uphill trek to Mt. Abram's peak, where music and mountain revelry await. There's a heated lodge up there as well, not that you'll need it. The 50-minute climb will raise your body temperature to such a degree that periodic disrobing will be part of the vertical journey.

The Full Moon Hikes happen every month throughout the winter and are entirely free. Hikers meet at 5 p.m. at the base of the mountain, where gear is packed into bins and hauled up for you. Then it's Mt. Abram Ale time in the temporary baselodge bar (you may recall the ski area's main lodge was lost in a fire this summer) before the offical 5:30 p.m. start time.

The gathering of nighttime hikers spreads out pretty quickly during the ascent, with some moving up with good speed while some of us, well, some of us didn't feel like rushing it. We wanted to, you know, really take in the experience, really appreciate the full moon against the black sky and the building tension in our calves. We wanted to hear every panting breath and whimper of aerobic weakness.

All 50 minutes of it.

The lively music at the summit renews everyone's vigor, and carried-in snacks and beverages are consumed outside among the pines while forehead sweat dries.

Eventually everyone heads back down the mountain in whatever way they see fit - hiking, skiing, snowboarding or a ski-tumble-slide that I find surprisingly efficient.

Future Full Moon Hike take place on Feb. 11, March 10, April 7. Check www.mtabram.com/news-events for more details.