STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK

PHOTOS BY NILS RIBI

We couldn’t do with just five shots.

Here are a handful of other images taken through the Wood River Valley by Nils Ribi during the year just passed.

IDAHO BLUEBELLS AND THE BOULDER MOUNTAINS

Did you know that the Idaho Bluebell grows only in Central Idaho?

It’s one of the most common early spring flowers hikers and bikers see as the winter snows begin to melt. And, amazingly, many of them lasted right up until the end of summer last year.

“When it’s in full blossom in early summer, it is quite a sight,” says Ribi.

BELLEVUE TRIANGLE FOG

Ribi spotted a bank of fog in the Triangle south of Bellevue as he headed out of the valley one morning in late August. As you might expect, he delayed his trip as he stopped the car, got out his camera and spent time enjoying the stark beauty of the morning.

U.S. ALPINE CHAMPIONSHIPS

The ladies were smokin’ it down Baldy in March 2018 as Ribi hiked up the steep Lower Greyhawk to photograph the 2018 Toyota U.S. Alpine Championships in Sun Valley. And AJ Hurt, a 17-year-old from Squaw Valley, Calif., was on fire as she screamed down the course, her mouth open all the way.

Hurt not only beat the field by more than a second and a half in the Ladies’ Giant Slalom but she claimed two other gold and silver medals during the championships. Then she went on to compete in the 2018 U.S. Junior Alpine Championships a few days later on Sun Valley’s courses where she added to her medal haul.

TRAIL CREEK TREE IN WINTER

This picture shows you don’t have to go far to compose a beautiful picture. Ribi took this picture in early December snow along Trail Creek Road looking back to Baldy.

TRAILING OF THE SHEEP

You would never know these sheep, their herders and accompanying guard dogs had just run the gauntlet of hundreds of spectators lining Main Street Ketchum for the annual Trailing of the Sheep Festival Parade on Oct. 14, 2018.

Here, they breathe a sigh of relief as they pass Serenade Lane, heading down the Wood River bike path for points south in what is a quintessential fall ritual in the Wood River Valley.