Girdwood -- Just before the Celebrity Ski Race began at Alyeska Resort on Tuesday, "he" walked from the Tram into the resort.

"He," of course, is Arnold Schwartzenegger, who according to rumors, packed up and left Anchorage on Monday.

But "he" was alive and well at Alyeska on Tuesday, smoking a cigar and signing autographs. German athletes requested a photograph, and other teams followed him into the resort.

"That's my movie star," screamed one USA athlete.

On Tuesday afternoon, after a lunch for some "Honored Guests" at Seven Glaciers Restaurant atop Alyeska, several people competed in the Celebrity Ski Race. There were locals like Channel 2 weatherman Robert Forgit, former Anchorage mayor Rick Mystrom and Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz.

There were sports celebrities like Olympic skier Billy Kidd, who skied all over the mountain on Tuesday and visited with athletes, and sisters Kate and Rosey Fletcher, Girdwood residents who snowboard on the U.S. Olympic Snowboard Team.

Timothy Shriver, president and chief executive officer of Special Olympics Inc. competed, as did his children. But Maria Shriver, Schwarzenegger's wife, and the mega movie star himself didn't schuss down the course, despite several rounds of chanting from spectators.

"Arnold, Arnold, Arnold," screamed New Mexico snowboarder Van Pexa.

There were others who seemed to have adopted celebrity status here. The alpine team from Ireland posed for pictures and waved to people who wished them luck from the chairlift. The team has attracted nearly as much attention as most celebrities, partly because Irish athletes train on plastic slopes in Dublin.

There's also that fact that many Americans, including those on the ski team, have Irish ancestry, and they seemed to want to chat with the Irish team. The Irish planned to meet with a member of one of America's most renowned Irish families -- Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver -- at some point this week.

Alaska State Troopers also were hits and in high demand for pictures posed with athletes. Two athletes from the Republic of Georgia, once a part of the Soviet Union, stood next to the officers on the tippy-toes of their ski boots and smiled wide as their coach snapped shots.

The event ended at 6:30 p.m. with a fireworks show. Competition resumes today.