Aspen

While the first big snowfalls of the season are causing a stir here in Germany, dozens of volunteers are mercilessly trampling the first snow of the winter in Aspen. Shoes and trouser legs wrapped in Ducktape, they march through the freshly snow-covered terrain to prevent the early season snow from becoming an old snow problem.

Alterna Films from Canada bring a solid snowboard flick to the market with "Hello World", the chapters about Bosnia Herzegovina and Turkey really stand out. Unfortunately, there is mainly snowboarding to be seen in the cities, including tricks on bombed-out facades in the Balkans.

The drive in heavy snowfall from Aspen to Crested Butte is long and difficult. The route planner had indicated a good three hours in normal weather, but with 30 centimetres of fresh snow on completely uncleared mountain roads, it takes seven hours. Without four-wheel drive, this would probably have been a mission impossible. So once again it was midnight before we drove our jeep into the hotel garage.

Having already visited five ski resorts along the Powder Highway in British Columbia in the winter of 2009, this time we decided to tackle a road trip through the Wild West of Colorado. Fully equipped, we boarded the plane in Munich and landed a good 17 hours later in Grand Junction, in the west of the highest state in the USA.