Skiing at Powderhorn - expert - Most people don't know it, but there is amazing skiing near Grand Junction. When my buddy Max told me that we should stop in at his home mountain in 2002 on the way to Jackson Hole, I most certainly laughed at him. When we got to the base and there was about two inches of dust on crust, but I was amazed to find that the groomed runs and moguls were completely devoid of any icy crust. An old timer with some old green Kastle Speed Machines told me that it was due to the mountain's high elevation and dry location just east of a large desert. We quickly slapped on our avalanche transceivers, shovels and probes and took the advanced lift to the north backcountry entrance. The runs below fed out into a meadow of lightly frosted sagebrush and I realized just what it is that makes this mountain just so amazing: the fact that it is not in a mountain range at all, but rather is on the side of a large plateau (or mesa, where I come from). The fact that it lives up to its name in a unique environment made me swear never to laugh again until I get the full story. Joey Smallwood