The Maroon Bells, near Aspen, Colorado, USA

© Christopher E. Herbert/Getty Image

A breath of fresh air. Escape the Black Friday crowds

Forget Black Friday shopping mayhem and find a treasure in a nearby park or a wilderness instead. This spectacular scene from the US state of Colorado is hard to beat. The Maroon Bells, near the famous Aspen ski resort, are a particularly photogenic pair of mountains in the White River National Forest. Gracing many a travel brochure and postcard, they are set in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness Area and are both ‘fourteeners’ – or over 14,000 feet tall.

Of the 96 fourteeners in the US, more than half can be found in mountainous Colorado, a popular winter destination boasting all sorts of snow sports. Here in the UK, Black Friday coincides with National Tree Week, so if you don’t have spectacular scenery to enjoy on your doorstep, maybe think about planting a tree instead.