Mountain Flying:
On the other Sedona thread it appears to be believed that if the runway is long enough then there if not much else you need to worry about.
WRONG
All the runway provides is a nice flat piece of land where you can pick up some nice speed, hopefully above the speed which your wings will produce enough lift to get you out of ground effect. Then when you get out of ground effect you have to climb enough to get over the huge lump of rock a few miles off the departure end of the runway. Try and bank and you suddenly use some precious lift to turn, less of it to climb, and you start going down.
What counts in the mountains is CLIMB GRADIENT. How many feet will you climb in a mile, not in a minute. How will downdrafts affect your climb gradient? Who knows, and if you don't know you need to be careful.
How does this apply to Sedona? Plenty of downdrafts, and plenty of mountains within ten miles and two thousand feet above the runway. Be careful out there, look at the NTSB reports for Sedona and learn.
Still a great place to fly, and no reason why even a student shouldn't go to Sedona there on a solo cross country if he has been properly trained and briefed