STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK

PHOTOS BY NILS RIBI

Nils Ribi spent months examining maps and studying weather patterns as he tried to figure out where to best position himself to photograph the Great American Solar Eclipse on the morning of Aug. 21.

“I’ll probably end up in Wyoming,” he said on a few occasions, noting the Cowboy State was being touted as having the best chances for clear weather.

In the end, Ribi ended up at home a stone’s throw from his cabin just north of Ketchum, taking stunning photographs that he shared with the Eclipse Megamovie citizen science project organized by Google and UC Berkeley.

Ribi, who has brightened many lives in the Wood River Valley with his extraordinary photographs, kept busy during 2017 photographing the skies around Sun Valley as the area’s celestial side came into focus.

Not only did Sun Valley host great viewing points for the total solar eclipse, but a 1,400-square-mile area encompassing Ketchum, Stanley and the Sawtooth National Recreation Area was designated the nation’s first International Dark Sky Reserve in late December.

Today Nils is sharing a few of the thousands of photos he carefully and thoughtfully took during 2017 with Eye On Sun Valley readers. Not only do they give us a look back at the year just come to an end but they offer us a look forward to the year to come as we imagine the landscapes we will find ourselves in as we ski and hike our way around the valley.

To see more of Nils’ work, visit www.NilsRibiPhotography.com.