Colorado Mesa University students ski and train atop Grand Mesa, about an hour away from the university campus in Grand Junction. The high elevation of the ski trails provides one of the longest ski seasons in the U.S. With the ski trails above 10,000 feet (3 000 meters), the ski season is long and snowy. Grand Mesa receives between 250-400 inches of snow per season.
We ski and train on 32 miles (50 km) of the groomed trails at Skyway, County Line and Ward Lake on Grand Mesa, about 45-minute drive from the school campus.
We can typically start skiing on the groomed trails from the beginning of November and continue through May. As a team, we drive together in the University club van to ski on Grand Mesa 2-4 times per week prior to the race season that starts late January, and then 1-2 times per week during the race season, which ends in the later part of March. The trails are groomed until end of April, after which a crust ski season begins that can last as long as through June. Students can also drive up to Grand Mesa to ski on their own at any time.
CMU Cross Country Skiing is part of the U.S. Collegiate Ski & Snowboard Association (USCSA), Rocky Mountain Conference, the governing body for collegiate team ski racing in the U.S.
We typically race Colorado College, Colorado State University, University of Denver, Montana State University, Western Colorado University, U.S. Air Force Academy and University of Wyoming.