‘FOREVER’ HOMES | KITCHENS | HEMINGWAY & POUND | SHEEPDOGS | SPEED FLYING Fall 2016/2017
The
Habitat Issue
Jennifer Hoey Interior Design Jennifer Hoey Smith, ASID NCIDQ #21519 Sun Valley, ID | Bozeman, MT jenniferhoey.com | 208.726.1561
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Beautiful In Pictures
Breathtaking In Person Sometimes in life, you have to see things in person to fully appreciate their splendor. Whitetail Club, the premier private community in the Pacific Northwest, is one of those places you have to see to believe. We invite you to spectacular McCall, Idaho, just 100 miles north of Boise, to experience Whitetail Club’s style of life. The famed Payette Lake, championship golf course and lakefront clubhouse are just some of the endless adventures that you can experience for yourself. Explore more at WhitetailClub.com/Discover or call
877.634.1725 to book a Discovery Package.
Homes starting from the mid $800s Homesites starting from the mid $200s
Obtain a Property Report required by Federal Law and read it before signing anything. No Federal agency has judged the merits or value, if any, of this property. Whitetail Club is represented by Whitetail Club Realty. We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the nation. Scenes and views may be of a location not on or related to the property.
The brightest spot in Ketchum Celebrate Sun Valley by owning a piece of its future. A brand already known for quality, community and casual luxury, the new Limelight Hotel will be the perfect base for all of your adventures. Make sure to stop by the Limelight Residences showroom on 2nd Street, across from the Magic Lantern. email realestate@limelighthotel.com call Dick Fenton of McCann Daech Fenton Realtors at 208-720-0386 visit limelighthotel.com/limelight-residences The renderings shown in this ad are visualizations of preliminary design concepts and are subject to change without notice. Developer is under no obligation to construct or use any of the concepts, materials or design details shown. Please obtain the property report or its equivalent as required by federal or state law and carefully read it before signing anything. This is not an offer or solicitation in any state in which the legal requirements for such offering have not been met. Warning: the California Department of Real Estate has not inspected, examined or qualified this offering. Š 2016, Aspen Skiing Company and Limelight. Limelight name and marks are the trademarks of Aspen Skiing Company LLC. Designated copyrighted materials, trademarks, photos, artwork and logos are the property of the respective owners and used pursuant to express agreement.
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CONTENTS // features A CURIOUS 84 FRIENDSHIP
Hemingway and Pound and their pursuit of a common aesthetic
BY ADAM TANOUS
ARTISTIC 88 SENSIBILITIES SHAPED BY PLACE
Local talents find their way to the world stage
photo: pete blaxil
BY KELLY HENNESSY
ON THE COVER Ian Janko performing at the The 2ube Extra Festival in Liverpool, England.
Sandra and Bob Swan took a 26-year-old home and, instead of demolishing it, rebuilt it into what they consider to be their “forever home,” an elegant retreat in the Northwood neighborhood of Ketchum. PHOTO: JOSH WELLS
BRUNELLE a r c h i t e c t s
Mike Brunelle, AIA BrunelleArchitects.com 208.589.0771
CONTENTS // departments
98 34 LOCAL BUZZ
74 GET OUT THERE
Pursuing ‘Ewetopia’
Flying High Over the Valley
A Destination Education
Upland Adventures
Community School expands its residential education program
A Place in the Sun
Winter Sun Horse Park offers a new facility for equestrians
48 360 KIDS Pursuing Passion
Outstanding senior projects from the next generation of leaders
66 BODY & SOUL Teaming with Technology
Robotic-guided, minimally invasive spine surgery
Active Life and Spine Health Common causes of back pain and preventive strategies
It’s All About Hydration
Paragliders and speed flyers take to the skies The joy of upland game hunting
The Smoother Way to Cycle Road bikers take to the open road
118 IN THE ARTS When Breath Becomes Light
The contemplative art of Pegan Brooke
Demystifying the Supreme Court A conversation with Justice Stephen Breyer
‘Voices in the Ocean’
Susan Casey’s exploration of dolphins
130 FOOD & DRINK Go Green
Leafy greens could be the golden ticket to a healthy life
Getting Wild and Sustainable
90 128
Salmon fishing the Bristol Bay way
Experts weigh in on the latest in facial treatments
94
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ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
HABITAT: HOME DESIGN AT ITS BEST
24 From the Publisher
Creating a ‘Forever’ Home
Winter Warmth
28 Featured Contributors
Simplicity, Comfort, Elegance
Backyard Bounty
44 Events Calendar
Sandra and Bob Swan’s Northwood retreat The Luhr’s Sun Valley home blends a rustic aesthetic with stunning views
Hub of the Home
New trends for convenience and style in the kitchen
20 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
The benefits of alternative heating systems Extending the growing season with home-styled greenhouses
Where East Meets West
How globalization can thrive at the local level
60 Timeless Trends 136 End Page
clockwise from top left: heidi long of longviews studios / courtesy fly sun valley / courtesy susan casey
Sheepherding dogs and a time-honored tradition
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@sunvalleymagazine Want to get inspired? Check out our gallery of dream homes at sunvalleymag.com. Whether you plan to build your next home or just want to update the design and décor of your current home, it’s always fun and instructive to see what others have come up with.
RUSTIC This lovely hunting and fishing cabin on Silver Creek was built offsite, transported to creek side and reassembled by Pioneer Cabin Company.
MODERN Peggy and John Baker’s modern-mountain home was designed as three separate buildings, nestled against the hillside to make it feel cozier and less imposing.
VISIT OUR NEW WEBSITE! We are excited to share our brand new website with our readers. We’ve redesigned the look to make it more user-friendly and have incorporated responsive design so that you get the same award-winning content on phones, tablets or desktop computers. We’ve included all of our print stories, as well as a wealth of online content, including resource guides, videos and online features. Look for the best of Sun Valley life in our Arts, Food & Drink, Community, Health, Home & Design, and Wedding sections. You can also enjoy digital editions of Sun Valley Magazine in our extensive archives. 22 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
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CRAFTSMAN Architect Mark Pynn’s design of this Warm Springs home won the AIA award for “Best Use of Wood.”
To explore our magazine archives, dating all the way back to 1974, visit sunvalleymag.com/magazine. On our digital magazine page, you can enjoy issues of Sun Valley Magazine dating back to 2001. Travel back in time to see what was happening here 15 years ago. Looking for an old article? Spend some time in our archives—an ongoing, living record of life in the Wood River Valley. Also, check out our digital edition of TASTE of Sun Valley in the Food & Drink section!
GLASS
photo courtesy of Christopher Simmonds Architects
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fromthepublisher // insight
publisher
24 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
Laurie Sammis / editor-in-chief
photo: FiveB studios
A
s we were assembling the pages of this Fall issue of Sun Valley Magazine—our special HOME Annual—summer had turned the corner and was rushing headlong into the cooler nights and golden crinkling of aspen leaves that is a harbinger to autumn in the mountains. Still, summer lingers. Each day opens wide and expansive, dripping blue and building heat, and I want to soak up every precious moment because fall signals change. In September, our young son is leaving home for the first time to attend school. I am torn between hopeful expectation for the challenges and adventures awaiting our son and a sinking dread at his impending departure. It feels as if all the oxygen has been sucked out of my lungs. The idea of our family unit somehow fragmenting is inconceivable, and the weight of each day binds around my ribs with certain inevitability. As a parent, marveling at the spectacle of thoughtful curiosity, reflection and courage our son displays, I am given pause on how to take the next step with the same resolution and daring. I want to provide wings, or at least offer a platform to experiment with flight; but something inside has cracked and is twisting directly through the center of my being. A tornado of anxiety is building: How can I possibly find a way to recreate that feeling of home for our son when he is so far away? Recreating home carries the unique challenge of attempting to define the limitless and imperceptible essence of something so profoundly familiar that it becomes an emotion rather than a place. Home is so much more than just a dwelling place. It holds our history and carries our dreams. It is the place where we go to rejuvenate our spirits and reconnect with our roots, whisper with our siblings and confide in partners and friends. It is from this place that we define our sense of community. And it also the space from which, especially as a young teenage boy, we press against the edges of whom we wish to become, shaping the boundaries of where we belong and who we are in the world. It was all of this that I wanted to package up, undamaged and perfectly formed, to carry with our son as he prepared to leave. I wanted a reminder of quiet walks along the river, of fishing line singing through the air to land in a perfect curl on the water’s surface, of early morning hikes, or mountain bike rides into Greenhorn Gulch and a family waterski in a high alpine lake as the light bleeds from the sky. It seemed an impossible task, crushing in the sheer weight and significance of the charge, which is how, in a round about way, we found ourselves standing at the top of Baldy with the Fly Sun Valley crew. There we gathered—my husband, our son and his sister—as we prepared to step into the wind in search of a thermal to carry each of us, and our tandem pilot, up into the brilliant, blue of an Idaho day. We waited, facing west across the spine of the Smoky Mountains, with our wing stretched out behind us on the ground. We trusted, as the sound of the wind ribboning through the trees below announced its arrival to the ridgelines above. When the wind finally arrived, we began the process of liftoff, a surprisingly gentle undertaking that began with a couple steps forward, a tug backwards as the wing caught the wind, followed by a couple more steps downhill until the wing filled completely. Then up we went, tethered by little but lines running from a fabric wing filled with warm, rising air. The view of the jagged crags of the Pioneers with the Wood River Valley unfurling against the falling dusk was breathtaking. Time stopped for a moment of uninterrupted stillness, linked together between dizzying spins and whoops of excitement and joy. It was only as we each gently touched down again on the Valley floor that I realized all my worry and loss had been for naught: You carry home inside you. And just like a real house that is modeled and shaped by many hands, the feeling of home is sculpted and formed by each experience we encounter—together and apart. And that will make packing our son’s suitcase much more manageable.
Where Great Stories Begin silver-creek.com
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featuredcontributors // writers & photographers
josh wells is the owner of Sun Valley Photo, which specializes in photography and video productions for architecture, interior design, construction and real estate. His work has been featured in local, regional and national publications. You can see his work at www.sunvalleyphoto.com and www.vimeo.com/sunvalleyphoto. When he’s not shooting, you can find Josh peddling mustard and pretzel chips for his other company, Sun Valley Mustard, and, of course, hanging with his son Dillon and wife Stephanie. (“Creating a ‘Forever Home,’” page 94)
diana price is a freelance writer and editor who has spent nearly 20 years creating content for lifestyle, healthcare, education, and corporate publications. For the last 12 years, she has specialized in health and wellness topics for consumer audiences. Diana lives in Hailey with her husband, two sons, and geriatric English setter. (“Teaming with Technology,” page 66; “Active Life and Spine Health,” page 70.)
patti murphy was born and raised near the beaches of South Florida before taking a 25-year detour through Phoenix, Ariz., and settling in Boise, Idaho. She now works as a writer, author, and owner of Murphy Media Services, PR and media consulting. She has written on an eclectic array of topics: from architecture and Basque cuisine, to dog agility, gardening, and Idaho’s wolf reintroduction. Her family lives in the Ketchum/Sun Valley area, where Patti spends a lot of time with her dogs, Buddy and Bella, visiting with family and taking long walks along the many beautiful trails there. (“Pursuing ‘Ewetopia,’” page 34.)
kelly hennessy grew up in Hailey, spending 20 of her 23 years enjoying all that the Wood River Valley had to offer with her two sisters. Her love of literature, history and politics took her to Middlebury College after the Community School. After graduating in February, she worked at a newspaper at the bottom of the world in Wellington, New Zealand. She is currently working for the Democratic Party of Virginia as a field organizer. (“A Place in the Sun,” page 40; “Artistic Sensibilities Shaped by Place,” page 88; “Winter Warmth,” page 106; “Where East Meets West,” page 114.)
also in this issue writers: Karen Bossick, Bryant Dunn, Jon Duval, Matt Furber, Cheryl Haas, Kate Hull, Patti Murphy, Laurie Sammis, Adam Tanous, Kira Tenney and Gwen Ashley Walters.
28 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
photographers: Pete Blaxil, Steve Dondero, Ray J. Gadd, Flaviu Gramazescu, Dev Khalsa, Heidi Long, Hillary Maybery, Glen Oakley, Barbi Reed, Tal Roberts, Kirsten Shultz and Karl Weatherly.
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SUN VALLEY MAGAZINE AWARDS 2016 MAGGIE AWARDS
Finalist, Best Feature Article - “The Great Migration”
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2014 MAGGIE AWARDS
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Sun Valley Magazine® (ISSN 1076-8599) is published three times a year by Mandala Media LLC. Editorial, advertising and administrative offices are located at 313 N. Main St., Hailey, Idaho 83333. Telephone: 208.788.0770; Fax: 208.788.3881. Mailing address: 313 N. Main Street, Hailey, Idaho 83333. Copyright ©2015 by Mandala Media, LLC. Subscriptions: $22 per year, single copies $5.95.
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The opinions expressed by authors and contributors to Sun Valley Magazine are not necessarily those of the editor and publisher. Mandala Media LLC sets high standards to ensure forestry is practiced in an environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable manner. This issue was printed on recycled fibers containing 10% post consumer waste, with inks containing a blend of soy base. Our printer is a certified member of the Forestry Stewardship Council, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, and additionally meets or exceeds all federal Resource Conservation Recovery Act standards. When you are finished with this issue, please pass it on to a friend or recycle it.
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localbuzz
PURSUING ‘EWETOPIA’
Sheepherding dogs and a time-honored tradition by patti murphy
The history of sheepherding in the Wood River Valley goes back more than 150 years, tracing its beginnings to John Hailey, an early pioneer who in 1862 settled in the area and brought a small herd of sheep with him from Tennessee. Today, twice yearly, livestock herders still run their sheep through the mountains and valleys of central Idaho, passing right through the town of Ketchum. To celebrate the woolly creatures, the Ketchum, Sun Valley and Hailey areas host the annual Trailing of the Sheep Festival, a five-day celebration of everything sheep related, from sheep-shearing demonstrations, to lamb barbecues, music, storytelling and a sheep parade down Main Street. And, what is a sheep festival without sheepdog herding trials, where more than 60 34 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
dogs and their handlers will compete to see who the best sheepherding team is.
Herd Mentality
Watching a herding dog work with a handler to control a group of sheep is like watching a choreographed dance between human, canine and ewes. These dogs, primarily border collies and Australian shepherds, are highly intelligent, agile, and live for their work. “They need a job,” said Patrick Shannahan, owner of Red Top Kennel in Caldwell and professional sheepdog trainer for 23 years. “They’re not a good dog to buy and just stick in the backyard with nothing to do. If they don’t have an activity, they’re going to make one up, and it’s probably not going to be a good one,” Shannahan said with a laugh.
First bred along the border between England and Scotland—thus, their name— border collies possess herding instincts so intense they often try to round up children, ducks, cats or other moving objects. They are extreme athletes who want to please and work with humans, which is why they are often seen competing in agility or obedience trials as well as herding. “They want to be part of a team,” Shannahan said. ”You can get all philosophical about wolves and pack leaders, but they’ve been bred to want to work with us.” Border collies use what is known as “eye” to control a herd. Eye refers to the intense concentration and stare they use to get the sheep to do something. Border collies also tend to use a stalking or slinking posture,
EXACTLY WHEN AREN’T THE STAKES
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photo : flaviu gramazescu, courtesy trailing of the sheep festival
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while other breeds like Australian shepherds work in a more upright position using their body to move the herd. “When a herding dog discovers it can control a sheep’s movement, that’s the reward,” Shannahan noted. “That’s when they turn on and get quite excited. Herding and controlling the sheep and working as a team with a person are what it’s all about.” Local sheep rancher and former state Senator John Peavey is a third-generation sheep rancher, owner of Flat Top Sheep Company and, along with his wife Diane, co-founded the Trailing of the Sheep Festival in 1997. Peavey talked about the natural herding instinct of these dogs and recalled the day he knew his border collie, Jock, was “a dog of a lifetime.” “When he was 11 months old, still a pup, we were getting a bunch of heifer calves out of the pen, and got them pushed out an open gate to take them out to pasture,” Peavey said. “The calves were running around, bucking and snorting, and Jock watched us go through this twice. The third time we got them pushed up to the gate, Jock ran up and cocked the
The firm you choose when you can’t afford to lose. Above: Border collies use “the eye”—an intense stare to control a herd of sheep. This characteristic and swift, stalking movements enable the dog to move a herd of sheep precisely according to a shepherd’s command.
FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 35
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localbuzz // sheepdogs
Top: During the Trailing of the Sheep Festival in October, sheep are moved from grazing territory north of Ketchum to winter feeding areas in southern Idaho and beyond. Bottom: A sheepdog goes to work during the Trailing of the Sheep Festival Sheepdog Trials.
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lead heifer as she was starting to lead all the others in the wrong direction. He jumped up, grabbed her by the nose. This heifer never had a dog hangin’ from her nose before and she’s spinning around trying to get rid of the damn dog. When she headed for the gate, he dropped off, headed around and grabbed her by the ankle. And every heifer followed her and out they went. You couldn’t teach a dog to do that.”
Sheepdog Trials
Herding trials test the dog and its handler in tasks that would naturally occur on a farm. “We are gathering the sheep, driving
36 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
them away, sorting some,” Shannahan said. “There’s a communication between the dog and the handler, and also between the dog and the sheep. The dog lets the sheep know that they need to go through the course while at the same time not worrying them.” Handlers usually communicate through whistle commands, which are different for each handler. Lavon Calzacorta, coordinator of the sheepdog trials for the past three years, explained the maneuvers involved in the competition. First is the “outrun,” where the dog leaves the handler and runs 400 to 500 yards into the field and introduces itself to
top photo : steve dondero / bottom photo : flaviu grumazescu, courtesy trailing of the sheep festival
five range ewes. The “lift” is when the ewes begin to move under the influence of the dog. The “fetch” is the dog bringing them down the course toward the handler, making sure all the ewes pass through fetch gates and then turning them around the post where the handler is. Next, the dog drives them out again, then across through gates back to the handler to the shedding ring where the dog and handler will try to pull two ewes off the band of five, which is called a shed. “This illustrates practical farm work. For example, if you have a sheep that needed to be doctored or you just didn’t want it in the group, the dog and handler need to be able to split the group,” explained Calzacorta. Finally, they will put the group back together and into the pen. They have between 12 and 14 minutes to complete the entire run. Shannahan said, “Even though these dogs have been bred for work, they also have a personality. Many look the same, but they’re not. Some are bolder than others, some are shy; they can be big, small, long hair, short hair, different colors. “There are a lot of good dogs that are great work dogs at home, but it takes a special dog to be a great competitor.”
FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 37
localbuzz // education
A DESTINATION EDUCATION
Community School expands residential program with its new Ketchum Campus by adam tanous
Like many of the schools and businesses in the Wood River Valley, Community School in Sun Valley faces an ongoing demographic challenge: how to grow in an economy dominated by resort activities and a commensurate aging population. One solution the school has pursued has been to go out into the broader population to bring students here. Hence, in 2011, Community School partnered with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) to form the Sun Valley Ski Academy—a boarding school program for skiers and snowboarders who want to take advantage of the world-class snow sports training of the SVSEF, as well as the academic opportunities at Community School. The program has succeeded famously, drawing students from all over the world—currently Brazil, Canada, China, Italy, Japan, Spain—and is quickly 38 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
outgrowing its residential facility in Warm Springs, according to Becca Hemingway, director of development for the school. To expand the residential program, the school is building a new Ketchum Campus in what was formerly the Smith Sport Optics building in the Industrial Center of Ketchum. It is designed to be what Ben Pettit, head of school, described as a “private school, public purpose … We want this to be an active space; we want it to be a healthy space, not just for the kids at Community School, but for kids in the Wood River Valley, in general.” To that end, the school, working with Elias Construction in Ketchum and the architecture firm Mithun in Seattle, is remodeling the approximately 25,000-squarefoot Smith building to incorporate public use downstairs—state-of-the-art training facility, commercial kitchen and dining area to seat 65, study, meeting and lounging spaces— and secure student residential areas upstairs to accommodate 40 people, including two
residential advisors. The school plans to move students in during January 2017. Pettit’s vision for the campus is one of a fully integrated “community hub.” For instance, a group of Nordic skiers might take a Mountain Rides bus from the school
“
We want the kid who wants to take advantage of the whole area—academically driven, athletically driven and who’s going to get after it in the outdoors.” —BEN PETTIT, HEAD OF SCHOOL, COMMUNITY SCHOOL
to the Ketchum Campus for a workout in the athletic training center. The gym will comprise four targeted functionalities— cardiovascular, strength, Pilates/yoga, and biometrics—and will be modeled on the
renderings : courtesy community school
Opposite page: Students will live in “pods” of six students, two to a room, with a common living area. The building will house 40 students. This page, clockwise from top: The dining hall will offer locally sourced, healthy meals; the training facility will comprise four areas focusing on cardiovascular, strength, Pilates/yoga, and biometrics; a key feature of the residential facility is space reserved for gathering and socializing.
U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association’s (USSA) facility in Park City, Utah. Pettit is also working to have the center become a branded USSA satellite training center, which would include staffing by a USSA, sport-specific trainer and would be available to national athletes when they come to the area for competitions (such as the U.S. Alpine Championships in 2018). After working out, student-athletes will be able to shower in the locker rooms downstairs, then hang out together in a student lounge area with couches, movie screen, pool table and Foosball. For $7, they can eat dinner in the dining hall where locally sourced, sustainably produced meals will be prepared by resident chef Tracey Caraluzzi. Students can then move to the study hall, which will be equipped with wireless Internet, interactive white boards and study areas, where they will receive targeted academic support from staff. Pettit also mentioned that the study areas will be available to outside groups, such as The Drug Coalition or The Advocates, to use as a meeting space. The long-term plan is to improve the outdoor grounds with an area of green space,
picnic tables, barbecue area, volleyball court, and pump track. That project, however, will be fund-raising dependent. Residents will live upstairs in “pods” of six students, two to a room, with an additional common area and two bathrooms and showers. Faculty residential advisors will live on the same floor with the kids, while the directors of residential life, David and Nancy Parsons Brown, will have a small apartment on the first floor. “Community School, the Wood River Valley, and the Ski Ed Foundation have natural advantages,” Pettit said. “We have a very good school, but then there is the access to Baldy, the Pioneers, Sawtooths, White Clouds … the wilderness areas. And you have 200 kilometers of groomed trails, Dollar Mountain and the Air Barn. So, access to the ski component … access to the outdoors and the outdoor program … is what we’re recruiting kids around. The third real advantage of the Wood River Valley is access to the cultural piece … the galleries, the nexStage, The Spot, Company of Fools. The creative arts are an emerging piece of what we’ll recruit around.
“We want the kid who wants to take advantage of the whole area—academically driven, athletically driven and who’s going to get after it in the outdoors.” Ultimately, Pettit sees the campus as an economic boost for the Valley at large. He noted that the school has had 56 boarders to date whose families have subsequently purchased over $20 million worth of homes in the Valley. In fact, this phenomenon has become a minor retention issue for the residential program because after a year or two, whole families of the boarding students decide to move here. In addition to the boarder families, Pettit said 58 families have moved here in the last five years to be near the school. Thirty of those 58 families were looking at the residential program first, then made the decision to move their whole families instead. “So, it’s a big driver for the school and our sustainability,” Pettit said. “We believe it’s a big driver for the Wood River Valley as a whole, and it builds on the natural legacy of skiing and the outdoors and everything people love about living here.”
FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 39
localbuzz // horse park
A PLACE IN THE SUN
Winter Sun Horse Park offers new facility for equestrians
by kelly hennessy
photo opposite page : dev khalsa
/ photo this page : courtesy winter sun horse park
Left: Ten-year-old rider Jodie Willow walks her horse Macy at Winter Sun Horse Park. Below: One of the paddocks for training at the Winter Sun Horse Park.
Winter Sun Horse Park sits nestled between mountains and a stream, the only facility of its kind in the Wood River Valley. As the Valley has lost one public riding facility after another, this nonprofit park stepped in to pick up the slack, opening officially in May 2016. The Valley is full of passionate equestrians, enjoying everything from simple rides to Olympic-level competition. However, in the past 15 years, this community has seen their options shrink, with at least five public riding facilities closing. “We have a strong equestrian community here, but a lot of the places to practice in the Valley have closed ... We want to give people the opportunity to practice, to enjoy the course, and to get their horse ready for competition,” said Nadia Novik, a member of Winter Sun Horse Park’s board. Many of the Valley’s equestrian facilities are private, meaning a rider has to be a student of the trainer to practice there, Novik explained. Winter Sun is open to independent trainers, and riders can hone their skills for a small fee or with a membership. The 50-acre park hosts a plethora of facilities, including a cross-country jumping course and a trail obstacle course, a combination that is not often seen together. On a field of hard-packed mud and dry grass, Heather McMahan, president of the Winter Sun board, and her team have set up an obstacle course of rolling wooden hurdles, FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 41
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localbuzz // horse park
small ponds and tall benches. Some pieces are adorned with flowers or pine boughs. Everyone from young children to seasoned professionals fly through the course, practicing their cross-country skills at the top-of-the-line facility. McMahan is particularly proud of their water jump. “Not many courses of our size offer a water jump like this. So, it’s great to be able to offer this to people in the Valley,”
“
Horses are a good influence on kids; they teach responsibility and dedication, and help build confidence.” —HEATHER MCMAHAN, PRESIDENT, WINTER SUN HORSE PARK BOARD
she said. “It’s great because there are different levels; every level of rider can use it.” Beginner equestrians can simply walk their horse through the water, while advanced riders can practice jumping off and on to the wooden banks built on two of the corners of the jump. These types of jumps are encountered often in competition, but few Valley facilities have the space to build one to practice on, making 42 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
Winter Sun’s a valuable addition. Across the stream, Winter Sun is building a trail obstacle course, or Western trail, where horses confront exaggerated versions of common complications such as having to walk over bridges, through water or over trees. There are all types of bridges: teeter-totters and suspension bridges, as well as bridges that narrow, and tires filled with cement that are arranged as steps. All of these obstacles are designed to help both riders and horses familiarize themselves with tricky maneuvers. “These courses help riders of all disciplines, as they are a great way to build confidence in young horses,” Novik said. “No one around here has a course like this, and, as extreme trail competitions become more popular, I’m excited that we can provide one.” Many of the obstacles and jumps are sponsored, donated by passionate families or organizations. Donors work with Winter Sun to design a particular jump or obstacle, infusing their personal style into the piece. One family added hidden coolers filled with refreshments to their jump for riders walking the course before a competition. McMahan noted, “The sponsored obstacles and jumps are really important to us as a nonprofit. It would be impossible to run a public, nonprofit facility of this size without
photos : courtesy winter sun horse park
SAWTOOTH EQUINE SERVICE
Left: Willa Laski on her horse Flying Colors clears a 2-foot, 11-inch high brush jump. Below: Jordyn Mary, Carmen Leslie and Giovanna Leslie relax between training sessions at Winter Sun Horse Park; Jordyn Mary and her horse Ahead of Time take air over the Boat House jump
grants and donations, and the jumps are a fun way to involve families and riders.” Without the equestrian community, the park would not be possible. Novik believes the small size of the sport helps foster a sense of camaraderie. “I find that eventing is one of the most supportive sports because everyone seems to know one another,” she said. “Everyone helps out, and we are so happy to be able to provide a place for the community, a place to come and enjoy with your horse.” Winter Sun Horse Park welcomes everyone, from casual to competitive riders from all over the West. Many of the riders frequenting the facility are children. McMahan believes riding horses teaches kids valuable life lessons. “Horses are a good influence on kids; they teach responsibility and dedication, and help build confidence.” FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 43
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localbuzz // events calendar
Check out
sunvalleymag.com
for up-to-date calendar and events coverage
FALL 2016 The Wood River Valley offers an endless parade of fun events, activities, and cultural events. We’ve collected a highlight list here, but keep in mind there are many more happenings to be enjoyed up and down the Valley. So, get out there, explore and discover!
Top, from left: Sheep parade in downtown Ketchum, part of the Trailing of the Sheep Festival; cyclocross race during Crosstoberfest.
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SVGA Gallery Walks
Crosstoberfest
The Sun Valley Gallery Association hosts evenings of art and discussion at Ketchum’s many worldclass galleries. Artists are often in attendance. Enjoy a glass of wine and discuss the latest in the art world. See the association’s website for specific dates. svgalleries.org
The 13th annual Crosstoberfest cycling and brew festival offers seasonal and specialty beers, live music, and wild cyclocross races in downtown Ketchum. What could be better than enjoying craft brews after a great ride? crosstoberfestidaho.com
Ernest Hemingway Festival
Sun Valley Jazz and Music Festival
September 2, 2016 – March 10, 2017
September 10–12, 2016
The Community Library in Ketchum presents The 2016 Hemingway Festival: Hemingway and Nature. The event comprises scholarly lectures, breakout sessions, tours and a gala dinner. comlib.org/hemingwayfestival/
Baldy Hill Climb September 24, 2016
The Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation hosts the 38th Annual Baldy Hill Climb. This fundraiser for the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation is a fun but grueling hike/run up the Warm Springs ski run on Bald Mountain. Participants climb 3,200 feet over 1.9 miles. Fitness freaks take on the Cheeso Double, which involves two trips to the top, one on bike and the other on foot. baldyhillclimb.com/
Trailing of the Sheep Festival October 5–9, 2016
It is the 20th anniversary of the Valley’s celebration of sheepherding and culture. Enjoy sheepdog trials, a folklife fair, cooking classes, live music by Hot Club of Cowtown. trailingofthesheep.org
October 14–15, 2016
October 19–23, 2016
Jazz lovers from all over the country make the journey to Sun Valley for the annual celebration of an original American musical genre. This year the festival offers 40 bands and over 200 musicians playing vintage jazz, contemporary jazz, cabaret jazz, swing, Western swing, big band, zydeco, gypsy jazz, and blues. sunvalleyjazz.com
Lunafest
November 5, 2016 The Girls on the Run organization, which works to empower young girls and women, presents the Lunafest Film Festival. The one-day festival, held at the nexStage Theatre in Ketchum, screens films that highlight women’s issues and women filmmakers. lunafest.org
Wild Game Dinner November 12, 2016
Join the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation for its 40th annual Wild Game Dinner in the Limelight Room of the Sun Valley Inn. The fundraiser features an elegant dinner, silent and live auctions, and live entertainment. svsef.org
Suns Hockey
photo at left: carol waller, courtesy trailing of the sheep / photo at right: nancy glick , courtesy crosstoberfest
December 2016 – March 2017 The Sun Valley Suns hosts games at the Sun Valley Ice Rink and the Campion Ice House. The games with teams from Jackson, Park City, Bozeman and Boulder are always exciting. sunvalleysunshockey.com
Sun Valley Nordic Festival February 2–7, 2017
The Nordic Festival is a four-day event culminating in the world-famous Boulder Mountain Tour comprising 34- and 15-kilometer Nordic races. The festival features clinics, town races, and other fun events. nordictownusa.com
Family of Woman Film Festival
February 27 – March 5, 2017 The festival presents five films from around the world that highlight women’s issues in different societies. Five feature-length documentaries and dramas from around the world are presented each year. The films focus on the status of women in different cultures. In addition, The festival offers daily screenings, guest speakers and programs for the local schools. familyofwomenfilmfestival.org
Sun Valley Film Festival March 15–19, 2017
The festival offers avant-garde independent films, mixed media shorts, premieres and discussions with filmmakers and screenwriters. sunvalleyfilmfestival.org
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localbuzz // events calendar
Janss Cup Pro-Am Classic
Sun Valley On Ice
The theme for the 20th annual fundraiser for the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation is “Comic Book Heroes and Zeroes.” Join the fun as amateur and pro skiers compete in a fun-filled race series. Costumes and fast skiing reign. svsef.org/fundraising-events/
Sun Valley Resort brings some of the best skaters in the world to perform Saturday nights at the outdoor rink in Sun Valley. sunvalley.com/things-to-do/iceshows
Sun Valley Wellness Festival
July 2017 (date TBD)
March 30 – April 1, 2017
May 26–29, 2017
The Sun Valley Wellness Festival is an annual gathering of the top speakers and practitioners of mind, body, spirit and environmental wellness. sunvalleywellness.org
Sawtooth Relay June 2017 (date TBD)
Relay teams of six begin the 62-mile race in Stanley, climb over Galena Summit and finish at Atkinson Park in Ketchum. sawtoothrelay.com
Ride Sun Valley Bike Festival June 2017 (date TBD)
Enjoy three days of competitive races, concerts, bicycling events and a product expo held throughout the Wood River Valley. ridesunvalley.org
SVCA Summer Concert Series June–August, 2017
Top-notch musicians from around the country perform each year during the Sun Valley Center for the Arts’ summer concert series. Performers and specific dates have yet to be released. sunvalleycenter.org
Sun Valley Writers’ Conference June 30 – July 3, 2017
It is an annual ritual in July: some of the best writers in the world drop into Sun Valley for four days of talks, breakout sessions and the exchange of ideas. svwc.org
Fourth of July Parade and Rodeo June 31 – July 4, 2017
The “Days of the Old West” Fourth of July Parade and festivities are held in downtown Hailey. Enjoy a great parade, the rodeo, antique fairs, and, of course, fireworks. haileyidaho.com
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July-August, 2017
Sun Valley Road Rally Come enjoy a scene you’ll never see anywhere else—cars travelling over 200 mph down a twolane highway. Some of the world’s fastest cars (and drivers) descend on Sun Valley for a truly unique event. sunvalleyroadrally.com
Ketchum Arts Festival July 8-10, 2017
The Ketchum Arts Festival, held at Festival Meadows on Sun Valley Road, draws over 100 of the best artists in Idaho. With live music, kids’ activity tent and other amenities, the festival delights locals and visitors alike. ketchumartsfestival.com
Sun Valley Summer Symphony
July and August 2017 (date TBD) The Sun Valley Summer Symphony is one of the joys of summer in Sun Valley. Worldclass musicians play in a world-class pavilion for three weeks. Bring a picnic and a bottle of wine and enjoy music in the mountains. svsummersymphony.org
SVCA Annual Wine Auction July 21-23, 2017
Join the Center in its annual fundraiser that celebrates wine and benefits arts and education. Some of the best wines in the world will be available at auction. Enjoy tastings, the gala event and more. sunvalleycenter.org
SVCA Arts & Crafts Festival August 2017 (date TBD)
This three-day outdoor exhibition of artists from around the country features a wide range of fine arts and crafts. In addition to the exhibition, there will be food, music, and artist demonstrations. sunvalleycenter.org
Wagon Days
September 1-4, 2017 The annual celebration of the early days of the Wood River Valley features the Big Hitch Parade, the Papoose Club pancake breakfast, a children’s carnival, the always-popular duck race, and arts, crafts, and antique fairs. wagondays.org
FIND YOUR BALANCE...
• Learning and thriving at a day and boarding school that offers an outstanding academic experience in iconic Sun Valley, Idaho. Our distinctive educational experience and close student-teacher relationships prepare our graduates to lead impactful, purposeful lives. • Training with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation’s world-class coaches at one of the nation’s best ski areas. Cutting-edge training is comprehensive, cohesive, and complete in five different disciplines: alpine, cross country, freestyle, freeskiing, and snowboarding. An exceptional ski academy experience for student-athletes pursuing their passions while preparing for college and beyond. Please contact Jonna Mendes, Program Director, at 208.720.0512 or jmendes@sunvalleyskiacademy.org • www.sunvalleyskiacademy.org
360°kids // senior projects
PURSUING PASSION
Outstanding senior projects from the next generation of leaders
Top: Annika Landis takes in the solitude during her weeklong stay at Coyote yurt. Bottom: Moonrise over the Smoky Mountains.
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From a simply educational point of view, high school senior projects provide an opportunity for students to apply skills and knowledge they have acquired over four years to achieve a specific goal. Perhaps more important, though, is the fact that they often inspire students to pursue their true passions, some they may not have known they had before embarking on a senior project. Between Community School and The Sage School (Wood River High School has a project program, but it is generally assigned in the sophomore year), the senior projects undertaken this year were both inspiring and ambitious. Students travelled the world, helped people less fortunate, developed ideas and products, inspired discussion and growth. We are excited to share some excerpts from a few of the outstanding projects and perhaps lend some insight into what the next generation has in store for us.
photos : courtesy annika landis
360°kids
ANNIKA LANDIS High school: Community School Post-graduation plans: Middlebury College Project title: Finding My Inner Calm: Serenity and Self-Knowledge Through Solitude Annika Landis focused her project on a variety of topics concerning the transition into adulthood, including the challenges of knowing oneself, recognizing the important things in life, and finding one’s place in the world. The climax of the project was spending seven days alone at Coyote yurt in the Smoky Mountains. She lived simply, reflecting on her life, and absorbing the calm of the mountains. Below are excerpts from Annika’s presentation, which included journal entries and reflections before, during and after her stay. Pre-trip I oftentimes feel that I am moving through my life too quickly to really appreciate it because I am always focused on all of the tasks—athletic, academic and otherwise—that consume my day-to-day existence … This year, I was overwhelmed with a need to slow down and make sense of the transition from the past 18 years to the next four and beyond. Day 1 Dad and I skied into Coyote yurt this morning … I was reluctant for him to leave because then there would be nothing but silence. Day 3 The hardest thing for me so far is the silence. Well, it’s not silence, but it’s not noise either. I think what it is is the complete absence of any human-made noises. The only sounds are of the birds, the wind, the melting snow, and my own breathing. I miss the sound of people talking … But I feel that even talking aloud would be a strange disruption … the yurt was overflowing with the wonders and uncertainties of solitude. Solitude is a strange companion. One moment it eats at you with loneliness and the next, it comforts you with inner peace.
Day 4 I feel lonelier today … When I finally left the yurt, the beauty from the day before was transformed into a forlorn landscape. As I ate lunch at the top of a nearby peak, a colony of ladybugs emerged from the rocks and began to crawl over my legs. The brick wall of terrible loneliness faltered and my senses opened to the unexpected beauty in the simple existence of the landscape … It wasn’t so much a discovery of physical beauty as it was a simple affirmation of what I already knew: that being alive is beautiful and I felt beautiful because I was, as author Richard Louv states, “alive in a larger universe, alive in time.” Day 5 Out in the wilderness, stripped of most material items, technology, and even my family, I felt a sense of loss but also a sense that I had gained something irreplaceable. I gained a deep appreciation for the simplicity of just being. Day 7 I am reluctant to leave. I am waiting for Dad to come skiing into the yurt. Deep down, I feel like he is an intruder in the newfound comfort of my solitude … I can hear the snow hitting the roof of the yurt. The moisture drips down the sides but other than that the world is lost in the muted silence that comes with snow. Everything is all put away and packed up and there is nothing left for me to do but wait, anxiously, for the spell to be broken. Post trip In only a week, I fell in love with the seductive stillness of a world not preoccupied with time. I was overwhelmed with the thought of leaving until I realized that nothing forbade me from bringing part of that world back with me. If anything, it begged me to do so. What I came away from this project with is something that I know will be important for the rest of my life. I carved out a little place within me for pure and utter calm; a bliss that only comes from a complete surrender to simplicity.
… I believe that only through an honest reflection was I able to create a place of balance. FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 49
360°kids // senior projects
LILY ROEBUCK High school: The Sage School Post-graduation plans: St. Martin’s University Project title: Diving Deeper: A Study of Connections to the Ocean Lily Roebuck has always been struck by the ocean’s power. She decided to explore the human connection to the ocean in her project. Her research led her to the thesis: “Humans have emotional and spiritual connections to the ocean. However, we favor the utilitarian view.”
Excerpts from Lily’s presentation: I was sitting 40 feet below the surface, on the sandy ground of the ocean, breathing through my regulator, being held down by the weights around my waist. Suddenly my instructor, Roy, gave the signal for shark and pointed out into the darker waters.
Above: Lily Roebuck explored human connections to the ocean in her senior project. Soon after this photo was taken, Roebuck was surrounded by four bull sharks. Top right: Roebuck swims with a whale shark.
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… First there was only one, a little smaller, but still large enough to swallow me whole. … Suddenly there were two in sight, then three, coming in and out of view. After about 15 minutes of sitting on the ground, there were four bull sharks; large and unafraid of me …. The sharks circled, close enough for me to reach out and touch one. In this moment I noticed something—I was the most calm I had ever been … I was finally able to see what goes on underwater. This wasn’t the only time that I felt deeply connected to the ocean, but it was one of the most profound… There were three connections that led my research: emotional, spiritual, and utilitarian. Emotional meaning a bundle of subjective feelings that comes together to create a bond between two things. Spiritual is when two things are connected at the heart and have a spiritual union felt both physically, mentally and at other levels. And utilitarian is designed to be useful or practical and harnesses all uses of an object and relies on those for life.
… An emotional connection to the ocean doesn’t have a right or wrong way of feeling it. The emotional connection can be in the form of happiness, of curiosity, of fear, of bewilderment ... Wallace Nichols writes in an article, “in most cases, when humans think of water or hear water, or see water, or get in water, even taste and smell water—they feel something.” … In all of the conversations I had, and all the interviews I conducted, not one person said that they didn’t feel something when around the ocean. Almost 70 percent of people who completed my survey said that they believe they share an emotional connection with the ocean, 20 percent checked both spiritual and emotional, and the last 10 percent said only spiritual. Not one person said they had a utilitarian connection. ... The downfall of the emotional connection is that it can easily be misinterpreted ... people (can mistake) an emotional connection for that of a utilitarian one… There are six oil rigs off the coast of Santa Barbara, and are all visible from shore. When asked how they felt about the oil rigs, most responded with … something along the lines of, “they don’t bother me. I love
photos : courtesy lily roebuck
the ocean, and I want to keep it clean, but we are benefiting so much from them. They can’t remove them.” When looking through their surveys … almost all who said they don’t have a problem with the oil rigs also checked that they feel they have an emotional connection. If this confusion continues to happen, more and more people will lose sight of their emotional connection in favor of the utilitarian. … A spiritual connection to the ocean is like how E.O. Wilson explains biophilia, a word he created to describe his theory that, “humans have ingrained in our genes an instinctive bond with nature and the living organisms we share our planet with.” This spiritual … is in our DNA, it’s part of who we are, it originates all the way back to where we came from some 375 million years ago. What I experienced scuba diving in Mexico helped me understand my connection to the ocean, and even furthered it. When I was diving, I was present, I was at peace, I had no fears, no regrets, no worries. … (F)or the first time in a long time, I wasn’t afraid to be in the ocean, subject to anything swimming up behind me, or a big current taking me far away. I was in a state of mind that I was part of the system underwater. I wasn’t intruding, I wasn’t invasive, or a distraction. I was just one of the fish. …Why does all this matter? I live 600 miles away from the ocean … I focused on the connections to the ocean because I believe that if we keep favoring our utilitarian view … if we keep putting our trash in the oceans, if we continue to over-fish, to keep adding to our pollution, there will be nothing left of any life. Rachel Carson writes, “It is a curious situation that the sea, from which life first arose, should now be threatened by the activities of one form of that life. But the sea, though changed in a sinister way, will continue to exist; the threat is rather to life itself.” Our lives depend on the ocean, we get three-quarters of our oxygen from algae in the ocean, and one in six people receive all of their protein from the water. We need the ocean to survive, and in order for us to stop abusing its resources;
we need to reestablish our emotional and spiritual connections, even if we live 600 miles away. FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 51
360°kids // senior projects
MAX TANOUS High school: Community School Post-graduation plans: Bowdoin College Project title: Educating the Favela: Living and Working in Brazil’s Slum For his senior project, Max Tanous lived for nearly a month in Rocinha, Brazil, the largest slum in South America. With a population of 200,000, the favela sprawls across the hills above Rio de Janeiro and exists with few and intermittent public services such as drinkable water, electricity, and waste disposal. He taught in a school established by the nonprofit group Project Favela, as well as at a community center in the heart of one of Rio’s biggest drug-trafficking gangs, Amigos dos Amigos (ADA).
Clockwise from top: Max Tanous (kneeling with grey t-shirt) joins his class and other volunteers at Project Favela; Rocinha is the largest slum in South America, with almost 200,000 people living with intermittent public services. Much of the favela is controlled by drug-trafficking organizations such as Amigos dos Amigos.
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Excerpts from Max’s presentation (which included these email dispatches to his teachers):
photos : courtesy max tanous
3/27/16: After 36 hours of travel, I arrived in Rio yesterday and got to my apartment in the favela. I have just been getting settled in, trying not to get run over by moto-taxis, and meeting the other volunteers. I am the youngest by five years and the only American in my apartment. I’m living with three people from the UK, one from France, and another from Belgium. 4/4/16: … I teach math and English classes from 3 until 8:30 p.m. I am starting to understand the ups and downs of teaching … the kids can be difficult, I’m trying to teach in a language I don’t really know (although my Portuguese is improving), and living in a slum-like environment can be pretty taxing on the mind and body. However, the ups make it all worth it. When a kid finally understands and hugs you and is proud of what he’s done, well, that’s a really good feeling. Rua 2 Area: … Rua 2 refers to a place in the favela where I have been teaching English classes. It is in an “unpacified” region of the favela: one still controlled by a drug-trafficking gang, specifically, Amigos dos Amigos (ADA) … The streets are only wide enough for one or two people to walk at a time. There are open sewers everywhere, trash and druggedout people lying on the streets. We often see traffickers … walking around with machine guns and radios. Some of my students at the main school live here. It is extremely sad. To see and experience it is shocking, but I am grateful to be able to see it. The people I teach are very engaged and want to learn. 4/9/16: … We lost all water in our section of the favela for two days. That was interesting—no showers, no flushing toilets ... you get the idea. I, along with a few other volunteers, gave out mosquito nets to pregnant women in Rocinha to help combat zika … Most of the girls were very young: 15 or 16. I spoke with the mother of one of the pregnant girls. She was lost, and knew that her daughter’s life was over. It will be impossible for them to pay
for raising a child … By now, I have become used to traffickers with machine guns, drugs, and wads of cash. However, yesterday I saw a new level of it … one of the traffickers was a boy. He could not have been more than 12 years old. He was carrying a gun that was up to his chin, standing with a group of older traffickers guarding the street … Many of my students live in areas like these, and they are the same age as this boy. 4/15/16 … In teaching this week, I have seen tangible progress with a lot of kids. … It is hard to imagine what it must be like to grow up in an environment like this. The constant noise, smell, and home dynamics are very difficult to live in … However, some of my brightest students live in the most impoverished areas. I did the math Olympics with them and finally got traction with kids who otherwise scream, shout, run away, punch, etc. It was so satisfying!!! Talk about learning people skills! Working with them, in conjunction with living with six other people from around the world—it is awesome!! I took a walk this morning down Rua 2 Street and came to the point where the police presence ended … I kept walking and saw two guys on either side of the street with AK-47s watching who came in and out. By now, the traffickers know who I am … and do not pay any attention to me … I turned the corner and there were six or seven traffickers sitting in a circle guarding the alleys ... I asked in Portuguese where the community center was and explained that I taught there. The traffickers all nodded and smiled; one of them said, “Come with me, I’ll show you the way.” So, I found myself walking with this trafficker, introducing myself, shaking his hand (his other preoccupied with his machine gun.) He showed me around the streets; I told him who I was, what I was doing here, and things like this. Then once we got to the center, I thanked him, he thanked me (in English for the first time) and went on his way.
… As the Olympics draw near, the violence gets worse and the nation becomes increasingly unstable, we are all left watching and waiting to see what happens to this amazing, beautiful country. FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 53
360°kids // senior projects
REIDE WHITEHEAD High school: The Sage School Post-graduation plans: Gap year, then enrolling at the College of Idaho Project title: Friends, Family, and Efficiency Reide Whitehead worked with Dave Stone of Sun Valley Auto Club to make his Ford truck more gas-efficient. At the end of Reide’s academic research phase, his thesis took the form: “Changing different products in my truck’s engine will make it more environmentally safe, lower my carbon footprint, and increase my gas mileage by 75 percent.”
Excerpts from Reide’s project:
Top: Reide Whitehead takes a spin in his now fuelefficient F350. Above: To achieve improved fuel efficiency, Whitehead changed out multiple parts such as his tires, oxygen sensors, fuel filter, and fuel line magnets. Opposite page: The final product after its rebuilding and refinishing.
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I’m Reide Whitehead, and I have a 1995 Ford F350. This was my dad’s first business truck he bought when he moved to Sun Valley. My dad hasn’t needed it so he has been letting it sit in the corner of his shop and rust for years. He didn’t want to sell it because it was valuable to him and the business. It has been through five different transmissions and 150,000 miles of plowing and towing since then. This truck has a lot of value to my family and a couple years ago I was in need of something different. I graciously was given the opportunity to do what I wanted with it. That’s when my new passion was formed. Over the many hours of sanding the three layers of paint I needed to take off, I started to become fonder of creating something where I had the control. I could have this truck represent what I wanted. I could have it represent me. I absolutely fell in love with this project and the potential it had. All summer I would work, just to make up the money to put into this truck. I loved it. My truck is very important to my life and family. It helps me find my sense of self every time I work on it and do new work to it. Having that sense of place and community responsibility is exactly what this project is about. I understand that having a gasguzzling engine is incredibly harmful to the
environment and if I want to keep driving, I need to put an effort into making this truck more environmentally sound. I have put the research into exactly how harmful my truck is … I have also found what I can do to change it so that it gives me the sense of community responsibility and place that has been needed. I have changed many parts within my truck’s engine to ensure that it gets the maximum potential in efficiency. There are many different tricks to keep an engine performing the most efficient way possible. I have tested each product by itself to understand how it affected my engine’s efficiency. With the research I have conducted, my findings should help get your vehicle to use less gas and run more efficiently. … I have decided to break up the testing in a couple different ways. The basis of every engine’s efficiency is the air it takes in. But the key to this is the type of air that the engine intakes, and also the difficulty of having air flow through the engine. I bought different types of air intakes to test out which one seemed to have the biggest impact on my truck, and also could potentially be used in anyone’s vehicle. Next I decided to understand the fuel
photos : courtesy reide whitehead
that the engine is consuming, a fuel filter being the easiest to access and also a major factor in the quality of fuel that is going to be flowing through my truck. Then I moved to a different type of tires, oxygen sensors, fuel line magnets, and also a tuneup. … My goal was a 75 percent improvement; that is, 19 miles per gallon. Before I started doing any modifications to my truck I needed to set a baseline for how many miles per gallon my truck got. I have a 7.5-liter, 460-horsepower Ford that was built to tow. It was by no means built for gas mileage. I knew my challenge, and I decided to face it. To get accurate results in gas mileage, I had to use the same gas pump, travel area, driving habits, and also the same weather. My area of travel was the Bellevue Triangle. I started at the Shell gas station, then turned on to Gannett Road, then right on 20, then another right on 75. This was a total of 38.17 miles. …Before I started this project, I went to a couple mechanics to ask questions about how I could get my gas mileage up. They would
ask about the engine I had and I said, “Well, I have a 7.5.” That’s when they would say, “Oh, good luck” and basically walk away. With this drive to prove them wrong, I took on the challenge and succeeded. The average 20-mpg car can give off around 9 tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually. My truck, before testing started, was giving off 15 to 17 tons of emissions per year.
Now, with improved efficiency in my engine, I can safely say I am getting 17 miles per gallon highway and have decreased my emissions to around 10 tons of greenhouse gases annually. So, along with the 54 percent increase in gas mileage, I was able to decrease my emissions by nearly 50 percent.
Welcome to the Sun Valley Animal Center’s Pet Ranch, an exclusive boarding experience for your best friend.
Please call 622-7387 (PETS) or visit svanimal.com to learn more about our boarding service. Space is limited, so plan your dog’s next vacation now! RESERVATIONS CALL 208-622-7387 (PETS) 106 S Clear Creek Industrial Park Road Ketchum, Idaho 83340 (208) 726-7777 • svanimal.com
FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 55
360°kids // senior projects
MAX POLITO High school: Community School Post-graduation plans: Middlebury College Project title: Mountain Made: A Look Into Startup Business and Entrepreneurship Max Polito’s project involved creating a new sports recovery drink much healthier than those on the current market by refining chocolate milk to maximize its benefits while removing ingredients that hinder its potential.
Excerpts from Max’s project:
Top: Max Polito works on the formulation of Mountain Milk recovery drink. Bottom: Polito conducts a taste test with a Community School kindergartener.
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The prior research I did proved to be valuable early on … because it helped me create a plan to execute right away. I did a lot of research to understand the concept of the ‘Lean Startup Model’ and the ‘Lean Canvas,’ which both became objectives to complete during project. The creation of an MVP, or minimum viable product, was taken from the Lean Startup Model and became the first goal … The MVP would be the recipe for our recovery drink after the first initial testing. As it turned out, more research during the project led the first MVP to a tasting at Community School before it was further refined. The second attempt called for a necessary change to the recipe to yield the proper ratio of carbohydrates to protein. By going through this process, there is now an MVP that has had … little money and … a great deal of time put into its creation. With an MVP (called Mountain Milk) in hand, we can progress into initial marketing phases
Senior project … allowed me the opportunity to see what the real world of business and entrepreneurship is like. What felt important to me was exploring the opportunities and uses this drink could have in schools and for athletes. At multiple points along the way there were moments that felt like we had the ability to fundamentally change some element of our target group’s current process. As an athlete I struggle to find the best after-workout nutrition that pairs ease of consumption with intake of vital nutrients. This drink, coupled with knowing exactly what was in it, was a relief. After learning about the relatively loose regulations nutrition labels are subject to, the concept of a product I can trust and believe in was pivotal in the creation of the drink. The understanding behind why and how ingredients and claims end up on the final product are important hooks to educate the population of people who could be interested in consuming this product. Mountain Milk is a product born and raised in the Wood River Valley. That fact alone could help to support and stimulate the local economy. During project, we met with a local organization that … helps local small businesses and startups get going. Mountain Milk hopes to draw interest to the Valley and help promote other businesses and startups and their connections with bigger production means. Another hope is that if Mountain Milk does well, it could inspire other businesses and startups from the Valley to take off. Hopefully this will inspire younger students to take up entrepreneurship and make attempts at startups with ideas they come up with. Additionally, the population of the Valley is often looking for the next best health trend.
Giving people a product they can trust and believe in is one of the goals this company has set out to accomplish.
photos : courtesy max polito
by taking the product to a small market and gauging the interest for this product based on people’s reactions.
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360°kids // senior projects
RILEY BOICE High school: Sage School Post-graduation plans: Santa Monica Community College Project title: Gender & Femininity In her senior project on gender and femininity Riley Boice posited the theme: “Negative trends in female leadership, though existent throughout life, are emphasized in adolescence, when gender roles begin to diverge.” She completed a field study phase by observing students in middle, high school, and college classrooms in the Portland, Oregon, area. Her final presentation included Sage School students reading and displaying quotes that she had gathered from her research about how young girls learn to adopt and accept social roles of gender in our culture. Excerpts from Riley’s presentation: … I grew up in a home that told me I was strong and beautiful and capable and was fortunate enough to have a school environment that did the same. By all accounts, I should have grown up never having questioned my own validity. But then I walked outside. I opened my computer; I listened to music. And in all these ways I’ve been taught it’s unattractive to have a voice. It’s unflattering to put everything I’ve got into anything I do. It’s dangerous to be invested. What if I fail? What if people disagree? What will they think of me then?
Photos both pages: Riley Boice’s presentation included Sage School students reading and displaying quotes gathered from young girls concerning their learning and adoption of social gender roles.
… We begin discarding our best assets in adolescence, when gender roles begin to solidify. Young girls are led into a paradigm that teaches them to place themselves secondary to boys. These gender roles begin to influence our identities, beliefs and values—informing and restricting our individualization. … When we look back at our lives, looking at our personal development with this awareness, I bet every girl in this room could name at least one moment wherein they
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downplayed their ability, their knowledge, their opinion, their passion, in favor of appearing more likeable, more attractive, less abrasive, or—and we’ll just go there—less bitchy. … We’re going to answer two guiding questions: How is gender identity created, and what implication does this hold for women? Humans are, by nature, categorical thinkers. This process allows us to make sense of the word, and understand anything new. We categorize people by race, social and economic status, sex, gender, and religion … “Once formed, categories are the basis for normal prejudgment. (Gordon Allport)” Let’s take a pause to understand the difference between sex and gender: Sex is anatomical and physiological, and refers to biological differences. …. Gender can “refer to either social roles based on the sex of the person or personal identification of one’s own gender based on an internal awareness.”… Gender lies along a continuum, meaning nobody is simply male or female in terms of gender identity. … (However,) traits—something like “nurturing,” “aggression,” “empathy,” or
… So, what does this mean for women? Female expectations begin to limit women’s ability to succeed academically and thrive personally. Because, “for females, placing others first is an important characteristic of a caring, nurturing person,” girls are ushered into different classroom roles than their male counterparts. “The acceptance of genderstereotyped roles as normal behaviors, with boys being rewarded for assertive behavior, uniqueness, and risk-taking, and girls for nurturing, conformity, and placing others needs before their own.” Because female gender ideals emphasize passivity, girls become afraid of success and learn a sense of helplessness. … Again and again we are complicit in our own subjugation. We raise our hands less in class. We don’t demand attention from the teacher, and we assert ourselves far less through unsolicited statements of our opinion or calling out to answer or ask a question. … Beyond this we don’t pursue promotions, negotiate our salaries, or advocate for ourselves and our skill sets—in the words of Sheryl Sandberg, we don’t “sit at the table.”
Through acting out this role, they adopt the associated traits as their own ... When girls see no separation between themselves and the adopted behaviors and believe that these traits or behaviors are what define them as a person or as a female, they’ve moved into the “occupation” stage.
....we are
sage
photos : courtesy riley boice
“ambition”—are human characteristics, yet if you consult the general populous, certain traits are always associated with masculine or feminine ways of being. We know gender is not categorical, but by gendering all human characteristics we construct male and female gender ideals—two categories, such that we confine female or male identifying individuals to their respective gender traits, making it socially challenging to access traits that fall outside of one’s identity.
…When we “occupy” the female gender ideal with the social awareness that develops in high school, we know there is a problem with the world around us, we can see the ways in which we are made inadequate, but we are unable to separate what the societal perceptions of femininity say about us as women and our validity as people.
… We may not have found an answer to the problem today, but what matters is being able to reflect on moments that we hold ourselves back, times we pretend not to know, and ways our sense of self has been shaped by gender ideals that discount a huge portion of what each individual has to offer.
What matters is cultivating an awareness of the ways we undermine ourselves and begin conversations about how we can construct a better, more equitable future, for her and for her and her—for all of you. And for me.
Reinventing Education for Adolescents in the Modern World
… Feminine and masculine ideals and behavior development begin in very early childhood, and continue as we grow up— through toys, media and family influence that play off our natural biological imperatives based on our sex and tell us what our interests and values are as female or male. … For girls, middle school represents a transition from “believed or self-affirmed equity” to “occupation” of their “lesser” female role.
The Sage School Grades 6-12
… Girls model the behavior and appearances of those around them but don’t yet hold these as personally valuable …
(208) 788-0120
www.thesageschool.org FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 59
Timeless Trends Modern Mountain Getaway A mountain home getaway should be an escape from busy city life back to nature. Our modern take on the mountain getaway is the evolution away from heavy structures and intense materials to calming lines with a touch of texture that echo rugged mountain landscapes.
This space was created with the intention of bringing the outside in. | Jennifer Hoey Interior Design | 208.726.1561 Modern design with a delicious sheepskin seat! Charles Stuhlberg Interiors 208.726.4568 Porcelain dishes with marble design are modern elegant! Bellissimo | 208.726.0702 Textural luxury underfoot! Jennifer Hoey Interior Design 208.726.1561
Use cowhide for a rug, pillow or poof! It’s a mountain MUST! Jennifer Hoey Interior Design | 208.726.1561
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Fill this statement piece with your favorite treasures and enjoy! The Picket Fence 866.944.5511
Soft buttery leather meets modern natural wood! The Picket Fence 866.944.5511
This B&B Italia Husk Sofa by Patricia Urquiola is modern design at its finest! Perfect for your mountain getaway! Architectural Resources | 208.928.6379
This geometric chandelier adds a modern shape and plays on natural and organic silhouettes. Jennifer Hoey Interior Design 208.726.1561
photos : sun valley summer symphony, kevin syms
/ amanda renĂŠ
Ingenious design, modern appeal, mountain getaway perfection! The Picket Fence 866.944.5511
Stop and stare at this angular modern masterpiece! Tribes Interiors | 208.726.5003 These captivating clocks tell time in the most unusual way—a perfect coffee table conversation piece! Silver Creek Outfitters 208.726.5282
A stunning original by Laura Schiff Bean anchors your room with subtle elegant hues! Gilman Contemporary 208.726.7585
Classic, modern, refined! Latham Interiors 208.928.6366
A cowhide bench with a modern edge, inviting and unique! Topnotch Fine Furnishings & Interior Design 208.726.7797 FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 61
sun valley magazine’s timeless trends
Urban Rustic Retreat An Urban Rustic Retreat is about inspiring your creativity and bringing your decor dreams to life using a neutral palette and combining hard edges and rugged materials with soft accents and refined design. Equally at home in a high-rise townhouse, a modern loft or a historic home, urban-rustic style embraces both the old and the new—edgy and trendy, yet classically grounded in the past.
Antique Antlers mounts are trend-on, creating three-dimensional magic! Kearsarge Lodge Antiques 208.720.2669
Turn me on! A lamp that speaks to our urban rustic design! Latham Interiors 208.928.6366
Put your feet up on this rustic coffee table, a room center piece! Charles Stuhlberg Interiors | 208.726.4568
Exquisite design matched with urban appeal. Gather around this stunning masterpiece! Red Door Design House 208.726.9075
Unbelievable realistic porcelain tile! Yes tile, not wood! Weather friendly and retreat ready! Sun Valley Kitchen & Bath | 208.481.0632
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Branch out with this dynamic console table! It’s the perfect entry piece ready for lamps or to anchor artwork above! Design 125 | 208.733.1256
photos : ochi gallery, tal roberts
/ amanda rené
Classic in design with a rustic wood edge! Latham Interiors 208.928.6366
Cozy and rustic, this room is as inviting as it is innovative! M Design and Interiors | 208.928.7872 This triptych art piece spans the distance of your wall. It is detailed yet refined with natural appeal for any room! Lone Star | 208.788.9158
Soft to the touch with down filled comfort! Custom designs! The Picket Fence | 866.944.5511
A leather desk offers the perfect writing platform for your room! Latham Interiors 208.928.6366
Antique snowshoes made into a whimsical coffee table! The perfect size for small spaces! Topnotch Fine Furnishings & Interior Design 208.726.7797 All coats welcome here! This antique ski tree, in our urban rustic retreat, greets guests! Topnotch Fine Furnishings & Interior Design 208.726.7797
FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 63
sun valley magazine’s timeless trends
Bohemian Bungalow
Illuminate your bungalow with this creative chandelier and cast a cozy glow over the room! Latham Interiors 208.928.6366
Every bohemian bungalow needs a Buddha offering a Zen mood to the room! Davies Reid 208.726.3453
Bohemian bungalow done right! Tribes | 208.726.5003
The boho home is a beautiful blend of neutral furnishings and eclectic accents that have us swooning! For those of you who go gaga over relaxed zen style—or in case you’re consistently captivated by the entrepreneurial lifestyle—look no further than these local treasures! Welcome to our bohemian bungalow with this stunning doorknocker! Davies Reid | 208.726.3453
This custom fabric chair makes the perfect statement in your boho space! Lone Star | 208.788.9158
A powerful pop of ethnic color transforms your bed to boho rapsity! Lone Star | 208.788.9158
Antique wooden boxed with ornate painting are boho savvy! Davies Reid | 208.726.3453 Luxurious leather handbags perfect any outfit! Silver Creek | 208.726.5282
Neutral wood curved effortlessly invites relaxation. Allison Paige Design | 208.309.0789 64 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
Display your foreign treasures! A great conversational item! Davies Reid | 208.726.3453
Dreamy custom linens and a pink Hyde lamp! ZEN! M Design | 208.928.7872
body&soul
Dr. David Verst (center) operates with the Mazor Robotics navigation system. Dr. Herb Alexnder (at right) and Kelsey Thurmond, CST assist.
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TEAMING WITH TECHNOLOGY
Robotic-guided, minimally invasive spine surgery provides benefits to patients
photo : courtesy st. luke’s
by diana price
When orthopedic spine surgeon David Verst, M.D., enters the operating room at St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center (SLWRMC) to perform spinal surgery, he has a distinct advantage: he has already completed the surgery before he steps foot in the room— virtually, that is. Dr. Verst, who is board certified in orthopedic surgery and is former chairman of orthopedic surgery at SLWRMC, now performs minimally invasive spine surgeries with the aid of the Mazor Robotics Renaissance Guidance System. The robotic navigation system assists the surgeon by providing preoperative planning tools and robotic guidance during surgery. In the field of spinal surgery, where precision is paramount, the tool has been transformative. “Hands down, this technology offers greater accuracy, efficiency, safety and better outcomes than traditional open surgeries,” Dr. Verst said.
Robot Redefined
In case you’re imagining an anthropomorphic robot-doctor hovering above the surgical table, getting a good picture of what the technology is—and is not—is a good first step in understanding how it works. The state-of-the-art system is composed of two tools: specialized pre-planning software, which a surgeon can run on his laptop, and a small—about the size of a 12-ounce can— robot with an extending arm.
“
The technology assists the surgeon in the placement of pedicle screws—metal screws used to secure the vertebrae in the spinal column during minimally invasive spinal fusion surgery, biopsies, kyphoplasty and sacroiliac fusions. The ultimate goal: p[ain relief and quality of life for patients. “Spinal fusion surgery treats a patient’s mechanical pain resulting from a bulging disc or another deformity in the spine anatomy that is constantly pressing on a nerve,” said Amir Suidan, clinical sales manager for Mazor Robotics, developer of the technology.
Guiding, Not Replacing
At each stage of planning and surgery, the Renaissance technology guides and assists, but it never replaces the surgeon’s hand. First, in advance of the surgery, the surgeon plans the procedure using the software, which uploads the patient’s CT scan to create a 3D model of his or her spine, allowing the surgeon to map out each step of the surgery and any necessary tools required in advance. Traditionally, this planning would take place during surgery; the surgeon would make a large incision and, uncovering the joint, would use anatomical landmarks to decide where to put the screw at that time. “With pre-planning using this technology, we know in advance exactly where the anatomy is and can avoid the large incision,” Dr. Verst said.
What’s most important for patients in this Valley is to maintain quality of life—they want to still climb Baldy, mountain bike, and ski. The minimally invasive aspect is key in getting people back out doing the things they love.” —DAVID VERST, M.D.
This is especially helpful in patients who may have had previous surgeries or injuries that have left scar tissue or have altered traditional anatomical landmarks, he noted. During surgery, the robot is secured to a mount above the patient’s spine and guides the placement of the surgeon’s tools to precise vectors, according to the preoperative plan, merging the preoperative CT with realtime images that reflect the patient’s exact position on the table. Once the robot has identified the accurate location for the screw to be placed, the surgeon performs the actual procedure. “The technology guides the placement, but the surgeon makes the skin cut and places the screw,” Dr. Verst said. “In no way does the robot take the place of the surgeon’s years of intellectual training and experience; it just augments what you’re doing.” The benefits of the assisted, minimally invasive approach are significant. “In the past, this type of surgery could be fraught with complications and risks— including blood loss, spinal cord and nerve damage, risk of infection and numerous X-rays during surgery,” Dr. Verst said. “With this technology, the efficiency, accuracy and precision all correlate to increased safety and better outcomes for patients.”
Why Here, Why Now?
Wood River Valley residents’ love for playing hard takes a toll on joints and discs in the back. The option to be treated for spinal conditions that require surgery in their own backyard with technology that allows for a quick recovery is ideal. “What’s most important for patients in this Valley is to maintain quality of life—they want to still climb Baldy, mountain bike, and ski. The minimally invasive aspect is key in FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 67
body&soul // robotic surgery
getting people back out doing the things they love,” Dr. Verst explained. But it’s not only athletes and recreation lovers who are seeing the benefit. “We do treat athletes experiencing symptoms from wear and tear, but probably 87 percent of my practice is outside the Valley—farmers and agricultural workers, people who have been doing manual labor all their lives,” Dr. Verst said. “The benefit to those folks is huge.” And, the appeal of the surgery reaches far beyond the Valley and the state. As the only hospital in a five-state area to have the Renaissance system, Dr. Verst said, SLWRMC is drawing patients from Wyoming, Nevada, and California, among other places.
A Community Effort
Charles stuhlberg interiors & Furnishings 208.726.4568
corner of fifth street and east avenue north
ketchum, idaho
While the benefits of this technology may be obvious to patients here and in surrounding regions, how this leading-edge technology found its way to SLWRMC, a small, rural hospital, is not. So how did SLWRMC make it happen? “What’s exciting about the effort to bring the Renaissance technology to St. Luke’s is that it was driven by our clinicians,” said Megan Thomas, chief development officer for St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation. Several years ago, Thomas said, Dr. Verst and orthopedic surgeon Herb Alexander, M.D., recognized the value of navigational technologies and began to research a variety of potential systems. “Drs. Verst and Alexander spearheaded the effort, and they ultimately settled on Mazor because it was the most appropriate for the types of surgeries we perform at our hospital,” Thomas said. The next step: funding the technology. What followed was a partnership between clinicians and the board of the St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation to bring the benefits of the system to the Valley. “Our foundation board recognized the potential and jumped in to help make it happen,” Thomas said. The funds were raised through the foundation from a wide network of community support. “This effort is indicative of the enduring commitment in our community to creating truly the best community hospital in the country,” Thomas said. “The consistency of support and generosity from our community is incredible.”
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The indoor answer to your outdoor paradise. massage • body treatments • acupuncture • salon services • fitness • facials
New featured products for 2016 HydraFacial® treatment • Carita of Paris luxury line • Circadia clinical skincare
With all of the outdoor adventures available in Sun Valley, Idaho, you need an indoor sanctuary to rest and rejuvenate. Whether you would like to massage sore muscles, get pampered by our salon specialists, or experience the best in our state-of-the-art technology, the newly-unveiled Spa at Sun Valley is your destination. Memberships and luxury packages available.
For services and reservations, go to sunvalley.com/spa or call (208) 622-2160
body&soul // spine health
ACTIVE LIFE AND SPINE HEALTH Common causes of back pain and preventive strategies by diana price
cervical vertebrae The human head weighs approximately 10-11 pounds. According to Dr. Joel Jarolimek, D.C., for every inch forward the head moves, the weight of the head on the shoulders doubles. This is why looking down at a phone or computer screen can add a great deal of strain to the back.
An epic powder day in the bowls; up and over Baldy on your mountain bike; 18 holes of golf; a backpacking trip in the Sawtooths. Sound like a list of your favorite Valley pastimes? It’s also a highlight reel of activities that can lead to back pain. “The things we love to do here keep us fit, but they also put strain on our backs,” said physical therapist Jill Pardini-Morse, P.T. “Patients under 45 most often have muscular injuries from overuse; older patients experience pain related to degenerative changes that come with age, which may have advanced more quickly through high levels of activity.” While the active lifestyle in our community might be unique, back pain is not: 80 percent of adults will experience back pain in their lifetime, and it’s the leading health-related reason people miss work. But it’s not only getting out and getting fit that sends locals to seek relief. “I consistently see patients with back pain resulting from postural and lifestyle habits— sitting at a desk, hunching over a phone,” said acupuncturist Joan Scheingraber, L.Ac. “It’s often a combination of these daily habits and physical activity that bring people in for treatment.”
Why So Common? thoracic vertebrae Osteoporosis is a loss of bone density that can be caused by many factors. As it develops, the thoracic vertebrae may condense or fracture causing excessive curvature forward of the middle back, which is also known as kyphosis.
lumbar spine Dr. Jarolimek points out that when we are sitting, the compression on the lower back is twice that of when we are standing and five times that of when we are lying down. Often as people age, the lower back loses its normal forward curvature and flattens out. More often than not, sitting is the cause of such problems.
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From the base of the skull to the tailbone, or coccyx, the spine is made up of 33 vertebrae, stacked atop one another and separated by gel-filled discs that keep the bones from rubbing together. The spine protects the spinal cord and is supported by ligaments and by the muscles of your back and abdominals. This complex puzzle supports our body weight and allows us to stand, bend and twist—and each piece is vulnerable to injury. “In the summer and fall, we see acute injuries in people who fall off a mountain bike or trip during a hike; in the winter, injuries tend to be related to compression—from higher speed falls while skiing or from time in the bumps,” said doctor of chiropractic Aaron Stern, D.C., C.S.C.S. The most frequent causes of back pain in the Valley, however, tend to be related to longterm wear and tear. “The most common reason for a patient to visit me is pain caused by degeneration of a disc, or arthritic low-back pain,” said orthopedic surgeon David Verst, M.D., former chairman of orthopedic surgery at St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center. “Ninety percent
of us will experience a degenerative disc by the time we’re 45.”
The Road to Relief
For those who experience back pain, a vibrant community of integrative practitioners and healthcare providers offers a variety of treatment and maintenance strategies in the Valley, including: Acupuncture: “Acupuncture moves energy. When you put an acupuncture needle in, it increases circulation—of energy, blood, and lymphatic fluid,” Scheingraber said. “It also works to relieve pain by changing the neurotransmitters and by altering the way your body processes pain; so it’s working on an energetic level, a cellular level, and a muscular level.” Physical therapy: “Our goal is to relieve pain and restore function,” Pardini-Morse said. To that end, patients will be evaluated and prescribed strengthening and flexibility exercises so they can resume a full range of pain-free activity. Chiropractic: “The primary goal of chiropractic is to allow the body to heal itself without pharmaceuticals or surgery,” Dr. Stern said. “We identify restrictions in the flow of energy moving through the spine and use movement and manipulation to allow free flow of neurologic impulse.” Orthopedic surgery: “Because back pain so often resolves with time—most acute instances within six weeks—I always promote the idea that back pain should first be treated by a primary care physician, physical therapy, chiropractic, acupuncture, or other modality that provides relief,” Dr. Verst said. In some cases, deformity, spinal cord compression, injury or degeneration may ultimately require surgery, in which case a variety of approaches, including minimally invasive spine surgery, are available depending on a patient’s diagnosis and risk factors.
Pain Prevention
Whether you’ve had cause to seek treatment through any of the above means or you’re looking to avoid a first episode of back pain, there are many preventive steps you can take.
Strength and Flexibility
“The most important thing you can do to prevent back pain is to develop a strong core—abdominals as well as the posterior chain (including glutes, hamstrings and calves), as it’s is essential to provide stabilization,” Dr. Verst said. As you strengthen, don’t forget to lengthen, as well: “If your hamstrings and hip flexors are tight, that will create strain on the low back,” Pardini-Morse said. The good news: “You can always gain flexibility, you just need to work at it consistently,” she noted. Get quality sleep—on the right surface “Aim for seven to eight hours of sleep, as that’s when neurotransmitters are replenished,” Dr. Verst said. And, invest in a good mattress: “A high-quality, firm mattress allows the spine to be stable throughout the night,” he added.
Move Consistently
“Keep your weight in check by moving more and sitting less,” Dr. Stern said. “Get up and do something—it doesn’t have to be an intense workout. Even 15 minutes of movement a day can be really beneficial.” As you consider exercise, be mindful of integrating different types of movement. “Aim for a variety of activities with a reasonable number of rest days,” Scheingraber said. “A lot of overuse syndromes come because people do the same thing over and over at a vigorous level.”
Don’t smoke
“Smoking affects discs even more than it does coronary arteries; it impedes nourishment reaching the discs,” Dr. Verst said.
RED FLAG WARNING!
Most episodes of back pain, while very uncomfortable and potentially life altering for a time, are not life threatening. However, according to Dr. Verst, there are a few symptoms that should warrant immediate medical attention: “If you experience progressive numbness or weakness down the legs, and loss of sensation or function around the bladder or bowel, that’s an emergency,” he said. “It could be a sign of a condition called cauda equina, which can result in paralysis and other serious complications.”
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body&soul // facial treatments
hydrate In the dry air of the Wood River Valley, hydration is critical to maintaining healthy skin. Products with hyaluronic acid are particularly effective.
exfoliate Dermaplaning and the HydroFacial process are techniques for removing dead skin cells and exposing a smooth, healthy layer of skin.
layer and protect Products with Vitamin C layered with moisturizers and sunscreen with SPF greater than 30 help protect skin from the harmful rays of the sun.
IT’S ALL ABOUT HYDRATION
Experts weigh in on the latest in facial treatments by kate hull
Combating dry, flaky skin every fall and winter can be troublesome no matter your location. And Sun Valley’s dry air can make your complexion feel downright parched. Sifting through the endless spa options and offerings can be tough. But estheticians at some of the Wood River Valley’s favorite spots are thankfully doing the work for you. Charged with uncovering the latest in facials, products, and procedures for a healthier, more nourished you, we perused the area’s best spas and found out what’s new and what’s working. Hydration, here we come.
‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ Meant to be an oasis from a day partaking in Sun Valley’s ample outdoor activities,
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The Spa at Sun Valley offers salon services, massages to soothe achy muscles, and top-ofthe-line facials. New for 2016, Spa Director Tiffany Cameron is excited to offer luxury skincare brand Carita of Paris. The line features products with gold and diamond particles, as well as plant extract like papaya and hazelnut that help prevent collagen and elastin breakdown and provide antioxidants for your skin. “Actual diamond minerals are mixed into this product for radiance (like the gold) but the diamond minerals actually affect the cell itself,” Cameron said. But to really combat dry skin, Cameron recommends the HydraFacial coupled with a serum and moisturizer regime. A HydraFacial
is a non-surgical procedure that offers a nonirritating alternative to microdermabrasion, with little down time needed to let your skin recover. Using a wand with tiny needles to slough off dead skin cells and extract porous grime like a vacuum, the treatment drenches the skin in serums that are sealed with moisturizers for a plump, happy complexion. “The HydraFacial is a medical device that uses a wand similar in appearance to a stylus. This wand gives the technician the capability of switching out varying serums and tips. The results are a deeply cleansed and hydrated face, neck, and décolleté,” said Cameron.
Layering Is the Best Defense
Clinical esthetician Mindy Pereira has been practicing for 13 years out of her Ketchum clinic, Skinsations. A one-on-one customizable experience, Pereira offers the full gamut, from facials and waxings to advance skin resurfacing peels and microdermabrasion. But Pereira stresses to all her clients that good skincare starts at home. “It is just as important as going to the gym and working out your body to stay fit,” she said. “You need to be very mindful about taking care of the largest organ of your body: your skin.” Pereira educates clients about layering products to combat dry skin: serums with Vitamin C layered with moisturizers with SPF 30 or higher. The Vitamin C increases collagen production and can fight redness, and SPF blocks your skin’s worst enemy: harmful sunrays. “I can only do so much from my studio. You have to be a willing participant to carry that on at home,” Pereira says. “You need to use serum underneath your night cream. This needs to be part of your routine like brushing your teeth.” The serum’s smaller molecules soak into your skin more easily, allowing for deeper hydration.
The Value of Tide Cycles
A health club offering nine treatment rooms, a nail salon, and Greg Hinshaw’s hair studio, Zenergy Spa’s bodywork practitioners have someone to do it all. Zenergy uses Eminence Organic Skin Care products that use natural herbs and fruit pulp, the products are all paraben free and organically farmed with the tide cycle, spa director Mollie Holt
“
You need to be very mindful about taking care of the largest organ of your body: Your skin.” —MINDY PEREIRA, CLINICAL ESTHETICIAN
explained. “Farming alongside the tide cycle is gaining momentum. It nourishes the seed to its fullest potential. The idea is that when it begins to sprout during the cycle, it is getting the most nutrition from the roots up and it makes the best, most nourished fruit possible.” Zenergy just recently brought on Dermaplaning, a method to exfoliate skin using a gentle scrape revealing a healthy smooth layer underneath. “It takes away all of the peach fuzz and dead cells so you are left with a completely flat service to absorb the active product,” said Holt. Moisturize and get ready to feel hydrated.
Hydrating with Hyaluronic Acid
Hailey’s Spa Beleza brings nearly four decades of skincare experience from owner and esthetician Collette Rainey who specializes in everything from acne management to antiaging treatments like a poly-hydroxy acid peel. Rainey now carries Italian skincare brand Comfort Zone known for hydrating the skin. The product was originally part of Spa Beleza 15 years ago, but Comfort Zone grew too popular to keep up with demand and focused only on European markets. Now, they are back in full force at Spa Beleza. When searching for the next best product, for Rainey, it’s all about the ingredients. “I am looking for products that have highly moisturizing properties, like hyaluronic acid,” she said of the new line. And that’s especially important in the coldest months. Rainey encourages potential clients to come in and have a consultation about a skincare regime. Once she can touch and feel your skin, then she can recommend a number of treatments, from the Signature Sublime Facial to a Corrective Solution Facial. “It is easy to recommend products, but you get more detailed products if you have a treatment first. Feeling and touching the skin is the best way to do that.” FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 73
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etoutthere
Flying high above Ketchum
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20th annual
FLYING HIGH OVER THE VALLEY
OCTOBER 5-9, 2016
Paragliders and speed flyers enjoy the ultimate view
SUN VALLEY KETCHUM HAILEY
“I’ve flown all over the world, and Baldy is one of the most demanding mountains I’ve found,” said Chuck Smith, owner of Fly Sun Valley, the commercial paragliding operation that’s been launching clients off the top of the mountain for the past 16 years. “No flight is ever the same, and it keeps you on your toes. That’s why the flying here is so good and the pilots are so skilled.” Sitting on the border of two different topographical areas, with the flatlands of the Camas Prairie to the south and the ring of mountains on the remaining three sides, Bald Mountain has been attracting paragliders and speed flyers to the area since the sport was introduced in America. These features make it difficult to predict the weather but also create systems that allow for some of the longest endurance flights in the U.S., including the national record, held by Gavin McClurg, who took off from Baldy and landed in Montana, 240 miles away. “It’s like a chess game that’s just you and the elements,” said Smith, relaxing in his office in Ketchum after a busy morning of flying. “You’re navigating this invisible landscape, constantly looking ahead a few moves to visualize what the air is doing and then making critical judgment calls.” With nearly three decades of flying, which began above the dunes of Cape Cod, Smith surely has the breadth of experience and the skillset to know, traits that he looks for in the half-dozen pilots under his employ to
take clients on tandem flights off the summit of Baldy. The duration of these flights greatly depends on the weather and the time of day, but during the summer—and, yes, people fly in the middle of winter as well—they average about 30 minutes, giving passengers one of the most spectacular perspectives from approximately 12,000 feet above the floor of the Wood River Valley. In addition to the scenery, this type of flying offers a unique sensation, with the foil 15 feet above so that there is an unimpeded view of the Pioneer, Smoky, Boulder and White Cloud mountain ranges. “I could see forever,” exclaimed Hensley Green, a 15-year-old from Alabama who had just landed on a warm July morning. “It was awesome and an adrenaline rush running off the top of the mountain.” Green, visiting the Valley for the first time with her family, had done a tandem flight with four others. She was excited to do it again, hoping to get her mother along this time. As Smith noted, they have taken clients from age 3 to 93 off the mountain, tailoring the experience to the wishes of their passengers. “It was like a rollercoaster for me,” said Green. “We slalomed over the ski runs and got to say hi to a hiker below, and at the end, we got to spin around.” Paragliders aren’t the only ones jumping off of these mountains, however. Speed flyers, who use a wing designed not to soar, but FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 75
PHOTO: MICHAEL EDMINSTER
photo : courtesy fly sun valley
by jon duval
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getoutthere // speed flying
“
It’s like a chess game that’s just you and the elements. You’re navigating this invisible landscape, constantly looking ahead a few moves to visualize what the air is doing and then making critical judgment calls.”
photos clockwise from top left: courtesy fly sun valley / andrew dunning / tal roberts
— CHUCK SMITH, OWNER, FLY SUN VALLEY
rather to descend quickly and in control, can also be seen coming off of a number of mountains throughout the Valley. In addition to having less volume in the wing, a speedflying rig is smaller. Whereas a paraglider essentially has a seat attached (think a Crazy Creek on steroids), a speed wing harness is more like a little hammock that straps to your legs, waist and chest. Sarah Murphy, a 34-year-old Web developer and graphic designer, has been living in the Valley for four years. She relocated here in part because of the opportunities to fly. “I kind of got into it backwards,” said Murphy, who started skydiving in Alaska, transitioned to BASE-jumping and finally paragliding and speed flying. “I began paragliding because it’s safer and very relaxing 76 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
and Zen-like compared to the others.” Still, she prefers to speed fly, in part because the lower weight of the wing allows her to hike and fly, which she often does in wintertime with her skis attached. Murphy is part of a small but tight-knit community of speed flyers in the Valley. She estimates that there are about 10 pilots who fly nearly every day. She also readily admits that the sport isn’t for everyone, as there’s a cost of entry that not only includes equipment, with a wing running anywhere from $2,000 to $8,000, but also the need for significant training. “It’s a solo sport, so if you’re going to do it, you need to get the right training because no one is there to fix an issue for you,” said Murphy. She described an incident in which her wing collapsed on her while flying near
Clockwise from top left: Paragliders ride a thermal above Bald Mountain during the 2012 U.S. National Paragliding Championships; Max Toeldte soars over Hailey; speed flyers often fly in the wintertime with skis, touching down intermittently during a flight.
Mackay, exposing her self-described false sense of security that had her pushing her limits. “You need to be adventurous to get into the sport, and with speed and momentum, you’re definitely committed to what you’re doing,” Murphy said. “But the main appeal is the view—it really is the best in the house around here.”
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getoutthere // hunting
UPLAND ADVENTURES The joy of upland game hunting by bryant dunn
“Best of all he loved the fall.” —Ernest Hemingway When Papa Hemingway uttered these words in 1939 on a warm autumn day in Ketchum, he typified the sentiments of many sportsmen and women across the Rocky Mountain West. And today, during the golden months, when aspen leaves turn yellow and the sun shines low in the sky, little has changed for those who hunt upland birds throughout our local mountains and meadows. The upland species consist of various game birds that are both indigenous and introduced to the surrounding ecosystems, including chukars and gray partridges, ring-necked pheasants, California and bobwhite quail and five separate grouse species: dusky, spruce, sharptail, sage and ruffed. Often hunted with the assistance of canine companions, the local aviary varieties provide significant challenge for those who passionately pursue them. The use of hunting dogs of various breeds is, for many, the real 78 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
satisfaction of the experience. Raising and training dogs is a full-time endeavor and developing a working relationship with a retriever, pointer, spaniel or setter is extremely satisfying for hunting dog owners. Billy Burnett, local upland bird hunting guide and owner of Patton, a 5-year-old German wirehaired pointer mix, said that his greatest enjoyment comes from working with his dog. “After many hours of training, many years in the field, you form a one-onone communication system. The whole ‘best friend thing’ is a little cliché, but it really is what it’s all about. You spend so much time working in so many amazing places that you forge an unbreakable bond. For me, it is the central satisfaction of hunting upland birds.” This is a common opinion within the upland bird hunting community. Jason Buck, another local upland bird guide, shares the sentiment. He and his 3-year-old black Labrador, Josey, hunted in several states for a half-dozen upland species last year alone. “Initially, my dad introduced me to the sport. He preferred to chase pheasants,” the highly experienced mountain guide and father
of three said from his home in Ketchum. “And that one bird species led me to pursue others in many different ecosystems, from the plains to the sagebrush country, to bigger and bigger mountains. Eventually I was in the field over 100 days a year. It became an extremely meaningful pursuit for both me and my Labs.” Clearly, the sport draws men and women alike, not just for the satisfaction of bringing home meat for the table but also because of the majestic landscapes that act as home ranges for the multiple bird species. Upland birds live in beautiful places. Chukars are famous for their love of steep, cliffy, often volcanic ecosystems, while gray partridge, also known as Hungarian partridge, commonly inhabit the sage and cheatgrass reaches of the prairie. Quail are known for their affinity for shelter, often seeking out old homesteads and dilapidated farm buildings and the bitterbrush, sage and grass that make for excellent cover from constantly threatening predators. The various subspecies of grouse may live in the grasslands, prairies, Douglas fir forests, river
Hunters enjoy a fall pheasant hunt south of Bellevue. Pheasant habitat typically includes low grassland or idle cropland.
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photo : glenn oakley
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bottoms or high ridge alpine ecosystems, depending on their unique natures. The lengthy seasons are also a draw for many upland hunters. “You get to hunt many different seasons in different ecosystems,” Burnett said. “It’s a long season from August 30 to the end of January. You’ve always got a chance to hunt some kind of upland bird, and the variety of warm, sunny September days when the leaves are turning yellow and orange to the dead of winter when you are wading through drifts of snow in sub-freezing temperatures makes for amazingly varied experiences.” Buck agreed with Burnett: “I enjoy hunting from horseback at 9,000 feet for dusky grouse. I can ride 3,000 vertical feet up a mountain, dismount and tie up and go for a long hike with Josey,” Buck said with obvious admiration for his outdoor pursuit. “But at the end of the day, the harvesting of the birds is the least important piece of the puzzle. It’s really just about getting out there and living a passionate life in the mountains.” Surely Hemingway would have agreed.
FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 79
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getoutthere // road biking
THE SMOOTHER WAY TO CYCLE Road bikers take to the open road
A favorite Sun Valley photograph is not on Sun Valley Lodge walls of fame but at Galena Lodge, a keystone of Blaine County community spirit. The image is of a 1970s-era road ride that stopped at the log building, a former service station at the base of Galena pass. The photo documents a festival of long hair, short shorts and piles of steel road frames. Those bikes, coveted today as sturdy city commuters, were simply the status quo before the advent of mountain bikes. It was a time when fresh pavement was celebrated by windscreen tourists and bicyclists alike. Turn the crank of time to this century and steel is still in. Add fresher inventions—ergonomic geometry, compact gearing, carbon fiber, cushier tires—and people are riding farther and faster than ever.
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Ketchum bike shop owner and lifelong cycling competitor Richard Feldman can often be found out riding. Yes, he mountain bikes and is a cyclocross champion, but he is most visible in his sleek kits and on his gleaming bicycles when he is out on the highway, possibly training for a time trial. Long a lone wolf in a place hooked on singletrack, Feldman has a lot more company rolling skinny tires on smooth roads these days. Much of that popularity is thanks to instructors like Nappy Neaman of The Elephant’s Perch fame. Not the most celebrated Blaine County activity, riding macadam actually offers a tremendous fitness opportunity, Neaman says. It’s an especially good way to take in the elements. In a compelling ride video that discusses the ins
and outs of safe group riding, Neaman spots a deer while leading a group to climb Trail Creek Road, the Sun Valley “Alpe d’Huez,” Neiman calls it, narrating in a friendly tone not unlike the Tour de France announcer Phil Liggett, just with an American accent. Nieman and a number of other bike shop pros help test one’s mettle riding to places where the pavement ends or on Highway 75 from the Bellevue Triangle to the top of Galena Pass, the highest paved road in Idaho. “I ride the highway almost year-round as long as it’s not icy,” Feldman said, explaining that road riding is as much about following the feedback of the legs as it is about responding to the weather. “A lot of people consider it boring, but there is less and less cross traffic as you get further north. The
photo : tal roberts
by matt furber
“
Pavement and Sun Valley seem like words that shouldn’t go together, but the fact remains that from Ketchum to Salmon, a person can ride 177 miles uninterrupted by a traffic light.”
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At left: Riders get out for an early morning ride in Sun Valley. Above: Unlike many places, road biking in Idaho affords spectacular scenery.
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photo : ray gadd
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other day the heavens just unzipped and we got a deluge. I thought, wow, that is serious rain.” Racing takes Feldman around the West and around the world. But, what happens in Idaho in the mountains, he said, is that weather changes and you’ll soon be riding in the sun again. He appreciates the challenge of training in an environment that is far from static. “Cadence, power, heart rate—if you look at the algorithm going up the highway, you might have a serious headwind and go back with a tailwind, it’s different every day,” Feldman said, adding that road biking has great appreciation in the Valley with group rides on Tuesdays through Sun Summit Ski and Cycle, in addition to Nieman’s Wednesday evening Elephant’s Perch rides. “Nappy has rides for beginners, advanced and expert riders. Those rides get people together.
They cater to all abilities and it generates stuff on Saturdays. Groups go as far as Bogus Basin to train before the Bogus Basin Hill Climb.” Most of us don’t have strain gauges on our bikes like Feldman, who says he’s essentially always training when he’s out for a ride. A steep hill and a quick pulse check are usually enough to estimate whether we’ve earned a post-ride schooner. Feldman, the time-trial champion, Neaman, Sun Summit riders and others, including world cycling tourists like the “Biking Viking,” Anders Forselius, who was seen a few years ago on the Blaine County Recreation District bike path (the old Union Pacific right-of-way) while crisscrossing the country, all testify to the asphalt draw here with and without drop bars. Pavement and Sun Valley seem like words that shouldn’t go together, but the fact remains that from Ketchum to Salmon, a person can ride 177 FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 81
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PHOTO BY RAY J. GADD
getoutthere // road biking
/ closeup photo : tal roberts
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Above: Covering ground the macadam way in Sun Valley. Right: Group rides are increasingly popular in the Wood River Valley.
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miles uninterrupted by a traffic light. There is one controlled intersection: the stop sign at Challis where Highway 75 meets exceptionally light travel on U.S. Highway 93. It’s usually safe to roll through the intersection and it’s legal. Since 1982 bicyclists have been allowed to treat all stop signs as yields in Idaho. Group rides in the Valley have been holding steady for years and recently became even more popular. To compete at the highest levels and in multiple disciplines Feldman takes to the highway frequently, but the serenity of the open, rural highways of the county can be a palpable treat for any rider seeking to take one’s mind off of things. Of course, the bike path is arguably the safest option, although fast riders tend to avoid it during busier summer months. “A rule of thumb is, once school gets out, take the highway,” Feldman offered. With rides on Broadford Road between Hailey and Bellevue, through Elkhorn or over Saddle Road, out Warm Springs and even far out Croy Canyon where the roads turn to dirt, riding is plentiful and more varied than people often think. A cadre of riders like Power House Pub and Bike Shop owner Billy Olson, a former road racer in his own right, have merged road and mountain bike passions with variations of equipment like Olson’s historic Peugeot or 82 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
group photo : karl weatherly
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the latest carbon fiber frame that make the ultimate dirt road bikes—lighter and faster than mountain bikes in a headwind. “It brings road grit to off-road riding,” Olson said. “When I grew up in Florida, it was about being out on country roads. You can go out Croy for 20 miles to the summit and hardly see a car. Having a bike path between towns is a pretty great gem for commuting, and if you throw in the dirt component it’s like the Strade Bianchi. You can ride for miles.”
photo : dev khalsa
THE BIKE BUILDER IS AN ACCOUNTANT! Making a quality handErik Rolf, frame-builder/ built bicycle is industrious accountant work and definitely takes a special set of skills, says Billy Olson, who tried his hand at the craft, building carbon fiber frames named “Joule,” after the unit of energy. “Building bicycles by hand is an art. I still have a frame jig, but I sold my mill,” Olsen said, while working at his bicycle shop in the Power House Pub. “I think you have to be a great businessman and a good craftsman to succeed as a frame builder. It’s a love habit. I think most guys make about $4 an hour.” Better at other aspects of business, Olsen’s projects include retrofits of old steel frames with 650b rims that provide space in road and cyclocross frames for larger volume tires—all the better to ride the decomposed granite back roads in the county on a better cushion of air since the rims accommodate higher volume tires that need only minimal inflation to handle the rocks. That’s custom set up. A hand-built, bespoke, even custom fit frame is an entirely different project. Currently, the only active frame builder in the county is Hailey native, Erik Rolf, the one-man shop that is Alliance Bicycles, fabricator from scratch of steel, titanium and stainless steel bicycles. “I was born in Hailey, and I went to college in Bozeman. Through a series of events, I ended up getting a two-year apprenticeship with Carl Strong. I wasn’t his employee, but he was showing me the ropes and after two years I’d go out on my own,” Rolf said. “My then girlfriend, now wife, had a job in Ketchum.” With his new frame-building chops, Rolf also worked at Montana State as an accountant to earn money. “Technically, I started Alliance bicycles in 2008-2009,” Rolf said. “It became full time pretty quick for me. That is slightly unusual. I lucked out in that regard, to be honest.” Luck and timing—Rolf’s bike-building career began in the wake of Lance Armstrong fame when high-end production bicycles from big companies like Specialized and Trek were going for thousands of dollars. “You could be flipping open the Scott catalogue and see a $14,000 bike,” Rolf said. “Still, the Tour de France/Lance Armstrong boom brought in more cyclists on the whole. It’s been called the Lance effect. I’m told cycling is only number two to golf for leisure sports. There’s been an influx of money that wasn’t there before. Production bikes have gotten so expensive, my bikes are a pretty good value.” Rolf doesn’t keep an inventory. Once a bike is complete, it gets shipped out immediately because hand-built bikes take a long time to make and customers have to trust the builder. Rolf recommends that buyers shop around for a builder they can work with. The name of his company comes from this relationship. He works alone, but it is a partnership with the customer, an alliance. Since most of the high-end bicycle consumers often have a connection to a production bicycle company or a bike shop locally, Rolf finds that about half of his customers are overseas. Handbuilding is booming in England and Japan these days. A good reputation is the best marketing tool for a frame builder who needs to spend most of his time in production to succeed. “You can’t be sending bikes out for free. The main advertising outlets are not realistic. They will break you. The best sign of success is a repeat customer who feels like he got a good value on that road bike you built and says, let’s do a mountain bike.” FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 83
Hemingway and Pound and their pursuit of a common aesthetic by Adam Tanous
T
he city of Hailey in 1895 was hardly a literary outpost, nor did it, at the time, promise much for the future of words and stories. It was a silver mining town in a vast untamed territory still five years from statehood. It had survived the economic depression of 1893—a downturn that sent unemployment rates in the East to between 25 and 43 percent—as well as the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which caused the price of silver to drop precipitously. But it was silver that brought Homer Pound and his wife Isabel Weston to Hailey. And in 1895 Isabel gave birth in their Second and Pine Street home to Ezra Pound, one of the most influential and controversial literary figures of the 20th century. Sixty-six years later and just 13 miles away, a second pillar of the 84 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
/ photo of pound : courtesy of the yale collection of american literature, beinecke rare book & manuscript library photo of hemingway : ernest hemingway collection . john f. kennedy presidential library and museum , boston .
A curious friendship
From left: Passport photos of Ernest Hemingway (1923) and Ezra Pound (c. 1920)
modernist tradition, Ernest Hemingway—controversial in his own ways—ended his life at his final home in Ketchum, Idaho. Ironically, these two men, so different in manner and appearance but tied together by unlikely geography and an aesthetic pursuit of clarity in writing, would be lifelong friends. It was a friendship that survived when virtually all others Hemingway had developed over the years dissolved in sundry slights, literary criticism and jealousies. Paris in 1920 was a crucible of literary, intellectual and artistic life that few other places and time have ever matched. Over the course of the two decades prior to World War II, the city was host to the likes of Hemingway, Pound, Ford Maddox Ford, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, Sylvia Beach, Archibald MacLeish, Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro, among others. Hemingway and Pound met in 1922 at the famed Shakespeare and Co. bookshop, a literary salon of sorts owned by Sylvia Beach, who would later publish Joyce’s “Ulysses.” Pound was, as Hemingway biographer Jeffrey Meyers described it, “an unofficial minister of culture who acted as midwife for new literary talent.” In addition to writing what would become some of the century’s most influential poetry, including “Ripostes,” “The Cantos,” and “Hugh Selwyn Mauberley,” Pound was the editor of literary magazines and helped to publish in different venues and times T.S. Eliot, Robert Frost, James Joyce and Hemingway. In fact, Pound was instrumental in publishing Hemingway’s first poems and writings, including “In Our Time.” For several years he guided Joyce in his writing of “Ulysses” and was the first to recognize Eliot’s genius in publishing “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” In 1921, he helped Eliot edit his epic poem, “The Waste Land.” Pound certainly looked the part of the eccentric poet with his large velvet beret, flowing ties, goatee, spectacles and cane. Joyce once described him as “a large bundle of unpredictable energy.” But he was no poseur. He, like Hemingway, was extraordinarily committed to his art and perhaps even more so to those around him. In his memoir, “A Moveable Feast,” Hemingway wrote of his friend, “Ezra Pound was the most generous writer I have ever known … He was always doing something practical for poets, painters, sculptors and prose writers that he believed in and he would help anyone, whether he believed in him or not, if they were in trouble. He worried about everyone and in the time when I first knew him he was most worried about T.S. Eliot who, Ezra told me, had to work in a bank in London and so had insufficient time and bad hours to function as a poet.” Hemingway goes on to explain how Pound and other writers created “Bel Esprit,” a fund that enabled Eliot to leave his job and focus on poetry.
P
erhaps the thread that most closely tied the two writers together was a common aesthetic approach to their writing that would become the core thrust of Modernist literature. Pound helped define Imagism— an effort to achieve clarity of expression through precise imagery. He rejected the abstract language of Romanticism and the strictures of Victorian iambic pentameter that preceded him. In a rhetorical letter to poet William Carlos Williams, Pound made his point: “When did I ever, in enmity, advise you to use vague words, to shun the welding of word and thing, to avoid hard statement, words close to the thing it means?” Pound’s focus was on precision and simplicity. In his essay “A Retrospect,” Pound lays out the tenets of what makes good poetry: “One: Direct treatment of the ‘thing’ whether subjective or objective; Two: To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation; Three: As FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 85
regarding rhythm—to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in sequence of a metronome.” As is readily apparent in Hemingway’s stories such as “Hills Like White Elephants” and “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” or in the novel “The Sun Also Rises,” spare and direct prose lends intensity to the emotional tension of the narratives. Both Pound and Hemingway had little tolerance for adverbs, adjectives, or long complex sentences or lines. The Modernist thought went that the more direct the depiction of the action or subject, the closer the writing came to the truth. It was a directness and focus often achieved by the repetition of short, precise words—which added to the musicality of a line that Pound espoused—or even by an absence of words. In a 1958 Paris Review interview with George Plimpton, Hemingway explained the power of absence with an analogy: “If it is any use to know it, I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg. There is seven-eighths of it underwater for every part that shows. Anything you know you can eliminate and it only strengthens your iceberg. It is the part that doesn’t show.” Also in the Paris Review interview, Hemingway revealed his near obsession with finding the mot juste. He told Plimpton that he rewrote the last page of “A Farewell to Arms” 39 times before he was finished. Asked what had stumped him, Hemingway said, “Getting the words right.”
B
eyond their common aesthetic visions, the two men simply enjoyed each other’s company. In Paris, they played tennis and boxed together. Hemingway famously described boxing with Pound: “He habitually leads with his chin and has the general grace of the crayfish or crawfish.” And in 1923, Pound and Hemingway took a walking tour in Italy together with their wives, Dorothy and Hadley. Hemingway always credited Pound with teaching him to write, as well as being a good friend. In a 1945 letter to Malcolm Cowley, Hemingway wrote of Pound, “He was a great poet and the most generous friend and looker-after of people …” For his part, Pound, late in his life, said of Hemingway, “Hemingway did not disappoint me … I never saw him save for his best.” Ironically, both men’s independent and bizarre forays into politics brought them anguish in their later years. Living in Havana in 1941, Hemingway formed a private counter-intelligence network that sought to ferret out Nazi sympathizers. It was a program loosely associated with intelligence agencies, but one not sanctioned by the FBI. In fact, it became a point of contention for the agency, leading it to open a file (124 pages worth) on the writer and keep tabs on him until his death in 1961. The FBI, in 1942 and 1943, tried to discredit the writer by intimating that he was a communist as evidenced by his support of the Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War, a tactic that Senator Joseph McCarthy would later employ in the 1950s.
He was a great poet and the most generous friend and looker-after of people. 86 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
Hemingway did not disappoint me … I never saw him save for his best. When Hemingway and his fourth wife, Mary, moved to Ketchum, Idaho, in 1959, the author was not healthy. He had high blood pressure, was drinking heavily and suffering from depression and paranoia. He feared the FBI was following him and spying on him. Oddly enough, records show that they were. Real or not, the fear surely contributed to his anxiety and his mental illness, in general. Late in 1960 and again in early 1961, Hemingway was treated with electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) at the Mayo Clinic. The treatment seemingly did not work and may have exacerbated his despair, though it is hard to know precisely. On July 2, 1961, Hemingway committed suicide in his Ketchum home. Pound’s decline was longer in coming, though equally distressing to his friends. During World War II, Pound took to radio broadcasting his pro-Fascist sentiments. His rabid support of Mussolini led to his being charged with treason and eventually being imprisoned in St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, in Washington, D.C., known officially as the government hospital for the insane. Pound was kept there for 13 years. Despite Pound’s politics, which veered to pro-Hitler and antiSemitism, Hemingway stood by his friend, as did other writers who lobbied for his release. In a letter to Pound in 1956, Hemingway said he was going to give him his Nobel Prize medal, as well as $1000, to help him get back on his feet. He wrote, “I … send it because you are our greatest living poet; a small distinction but your own. It also goes to my old tennis opponent, to the man who founded “Bel Esprit,” and the man who taught me, gently, to be merciful and tried to teach me to be kind when all I had was omerta.” (The medal never came to Pound, but the money did. However, Pound never cashed the check.) Hemingway, along with Archibald MacLeish, Robert Frost and T.S. Eliot, submitted a letter to the U.S. Attorney General in 1957, which, ultimately, was instrumental in Pound being released and enabled his return to Italy.
W
hile Hemingway famously spent the fall months bird hunting in Sun Valley—specifically those in 1939 through 1941, 1946 and 1947—and later made Ketchum his last home, Pound never returned to the Wood River Valley. He never went pheasant hunting with rancher Bud Purdy or movie star Gary Cooper, as Hemingway did. Neither did he walk the Idaho hills that reminded Hemingway of Spain, nor stay in the Sun Valley Lodge where Hemingway finished writing “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” nor enjoy long dinners at The Ram in Sun Valley that reminded the author of his time in Austria. The last time the two saw each other was in Paris in 1934, long before the troubles each would later face. Their paths did cross in 1939, if only in the metaphysical sense. As Tillie Arnold reported in her book, “The Idaho Hemingway,” Hemingway and Martha Gelhorn (an eventual wife) went to Silver Creek one fall afternoon to scout out duck hunting areas. They met two locals, Chuck Atkinson and Bud Purdy, in Picabo, men who would become good friends of the writer. Hemingway later excitedly told Arnold how he and Gelhorn had stopped in at the Snug Bar in Hailey. There, walking through the back of the bar, Hemingway stumbled on to a makeshift museum the owner, Al Lewis, had set up honoring a famous writer who had by happenstance been born in this small Western town: it was an homage to his old friend Ezra Pound. FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 87
ARTISTIC SENSIBILITIES SHAPED BY
PLACE Local talents find their way to the world stage Despite its size, the Wood River Valley continues to be a deep well of talent. Sun Valley stars are breaking across the world, everywhere from the Czech Republic to Liverpool. We profiled three emerging artists, all hailing from the Wood River Valley, who are making waves in their respective fields of fiction, opera and music. In all cases, place—this particular place—had a profound effect on their art and sensibilities.
by Kelly Hennessy
Ian Janco, singer-songwriter
88 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2015
IAN JANCO
M
usic has been buried in Ian
Once I got to high school, I started to really
Janco’s bones since he was born.
take it seriously, once I had real things to write
From an early age, he’s known
about: girls, depression, fun things like that.”
how he wanted to spend his life. “Growing up, when people would
of 26 students in a one-room schoolhouse in
ask me what I wanted to be, I
Stanley, Janco moved to Sun Valley when he was
would always tell them, ‘a songwriter,’” he said. This career choice was no surprise given his
upbringing; he grew up on a sprawling, isolated ranch at Robinson Bar in the Boulder-White
photo : pete blaxil
After spending his elementary years as one
11. He was shocked by the relatively mammoth middle school. He relocated again for high school, to Santa Cruz, California. All of these different places have impacted
Cloud Range owned by the legendary singer-
his art, Janco says, and Idaho continues to live
songwriter Carole King.
on in his sound. “I was lucky to have different
Janco’s mother, Elissa Kline, who was a
environments to play music in,” he explained.
friend of King’s daughter, left her job in a
”With Stanley, Sun Valley, and then Santa Cruz,
New York music studio for a one-year stint as
I have had lots of different influences, and you
caretaker of the ranch, bringing along Janco’s
can still hear some of Idaho, that sensibility has
father. One year soon became 17. Janco credits
stayed in my writing.”
the 11 years he spent growing up on the ranch
While Janco is currently across the
for inspiring his career as a singer-songwriter.
pond, studying at the Liverpool Institute for
King’s ranch was teeming with everything a
Performing Arts, he feels lucky to return to the
budding artist could hope for, including musical
Valley that first inspired him.
mentors. “Carole had a studio on the ranch, and my
This summer, he graced the same stage where he saw his first concert: Carole King and
dad taught himself, learning how to play all
James Taylor at River Run Lodge. This time, he
the instruments, how to record his own music.
was the one performing, opening for Emmylou
I think it was watching that process, on top of
Harris.
my mom’s influence, playing music around the house all of the time, that was the start,” Janco reminisced. This start came early; as a 5-year-old, Ian
For Janco, writing is not just a way to pay the bills; he sees it more as a calling. “I see songwriting as a craft, a job, an honor, a duty. Songs are a profound thing, taking the
performed an original song at a blues festival.
fleeting moments people experience every day
At 8, he recorded his first five-song EP. By 10,
and preserving them. You have to be open and
he was playing drums, bass, and guitar in local
receptive to those moments. One second could
bands.
inspire the song of your life.”
“I first wrote an original song at 5. I mean, it was not very good, but what could you expect?
FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 89
Alexander Maksik, critically acclaimed author
ALEXANDER MAKSIK
T
hough Alexander Maksik was not
Valley cultivated this drive. Maksik attended
publication of his first novel, “You
Community School, where his father was the
Deserve Nothing,” in 2011, he said
headmaster and his mother was head of the
he has been “writing for as long as
lower school. “I was profoundly influenced by my
I can remember.” It certainly seems
teachers here,” he said, giving particular credit
as if he had a backlog of stories to tell; since
to Bob Brock and Tom Johnson, “both of whom
his first, he has published two more novels, “A
taught me to read and to write in ways I’d never
Marker to Measure Drift,” in 2013, and “Shelter
imagined possible at the time.”
in Place,” coming out in September 2016. He
photo : hillary maybery
The people and places of the Wood River
officially an “author” until the
He found a sanctuary at Iconoclast Books in
has also been a contributing editor for Condé
Ketchum. “Sarah Hedrick and her late husband,
Nast Traveler, and his writing has appeared in
Gary Hunt, were both very supportive of me
everything from “Best American Nonrequired
from an early age and provided me a warm
Reading” to Salon.
place to read my terrible poems aloud,” Maksik
With two critically acclaimed novels and a slew of prizes, Maksik is by most measures a
said. Maksik has found that our wide-open spaces
success. However, he does not subscribe to
and undisturbed wilderness create the perfect
narrow parameters to define his life’s work.
backdrop for introspection and creation.
“While I would, of course, like to win prizes
While trying to break out of Idaho would be a
and appear at the top of bestseller lists, I don’t
challenge for many, he found nothing but virtue
see those things as indicative of success. My
in his upbringing.
primary interest is to write as well as I can, to
“If anything,” he commented, “growing up
write books that are unconventional, urgent,
in Idaho was an advantage. Much of what I
challenging, and that will have real emotional
learned here, particularly in the backcountry,
resonance with readers,” he said.
has been useful to me as a writer: an ability to
This drive to put words down on paper is,
be alone, to find pleasure in that solitude, to be
at times, “difficult, isolating and frustrating,”
self-sufficient, to pay careful attention to the
Maksik noted. However, “it also provides me a
world.”
very particular pleasure, one I’ve found nowhere else in my life.”
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LOUISA WAYCOTT opportunities that would be prohibitively
of an anachronism, a 21st-century
expensive or inaccessible in cities like New York.
woman pursuing an 18th-century art.
Programs like the Sun Valley Summer Symphony
However, she insists, opera is overdue
and the accompanying School of Music exposed
for a comeback.
Waycott to incredible artists and instructors.
“It used to be the most popular
“You are able to see top artists of the musical
art form out there, and, I think now, with the
and classical theatre world, Yo-Yo Ma, Midori
opera houses streaming their performances and
Goto¯, Deborah Voigt, I mean, amazing artists,”
recordings, it’s becoming popular again. It still
Waycott offered. “Somewhere else, you’d be
has the power to overwhelm and inspire you,”
paying a lot of money to see anyone like that.
she enthused.
Once, I was able to sing for Deborah Voigt,
Waycott stumbled into her passion,
which would be almost impossible (anywhere
discovering opera during an internship her
else) when you’re competing against 600 other
senior year of high school. As part of Community
people for the one spot.”
School’s cherished tradition of senior projects,
While Waycott built her skills in Idaho, she
Louisa interned at the Metropolitan Opera in
has also taken pains to venture out into the
New York City. She was immediately transfixed.
larger world, which, as she was entering the
Though she initially hoped to pursue a career as a cellist, Waycott turned her eye toward the insular and elite world of opera and has never looked back. “I threw almost everything else out the
new world of opera, was necessary to gauge her progress. “Basically, anyone who wants to pursue something that is being ranked on an international level, you have to get out to see
window, I was so inspired. I wanted to learn how
where you are, talent-wise, to see how you are
people could amplify their voices so much they
developing compared to everyone else. You
could sing in a 3000-seat house and be heard
do not want to distance yourself from what is
fully, without a microphone, over a 120-piece
currently happening on the world stage,”
orchestra,” she recalled.
she noted.
Years of honing her acting and musical
Waycott has certainly kept up to date on the
skills in the Sun Valley laboratory allowed her
world stage, traveling everywhere from Italy
to make the transition. Sun Valley’s size belies
to the Czech Republic, soaking up the sounds
its dynamic arts scene; our quiet mountain
and sites of opera’s old masters. With every
town is home to world-class artists, devoted to
new experience, her reverence for the art has
enriching their surroundings.
deepened.
“Sun Valley just attracts the most unique and
“There is something beautiful about a raw
interesting people. There are so many amazing
voice. You become overwhelmed by the sheer
and talented people that want to give back to
beauty of music. Opera just opens you up to
the community,” she said.
the core.”
With such a deep pool of talent concentrated in a small area, students of the arts are afforded
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photo : hillary maybery
L
ouisa Waycott seems to be something
Louisa Waycott, making a splash in the world of opera
dream homes 94 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
CREATING A ‘FOREVER HOME’ Sandra and Bob Swan’s Northwood Retreat by karen bossick
T
/ photography by josh wells
he 8,300-square-foot home sitting under a 150-foot aspen on the banks of the Big Wood River in Ketchum’s Northwood neighborhood isn’t just Sandra and Bob Swan’s dream home. It’s their “forever home.” It’s a home that someone else built 26 years ago. But, rather than tear it down and build anew, the couple elected to have Lloyd Construction rebuild the interior. That
enabled them to keep the aspen that would have been necessarily cut down with the construction of a new home. And it enabled them to have their “new” home done in three months, rather than the three years that Lloyd Construction president David Lloyd estimates it would have taken to build a house from foundation. “It’s so cool what they’ve done,” said Chase Gourlay, who oversaw the project for Ben Young Landscape Design. “They said, ‘We can
make this work,’ instead of putting everything in the back of a dump truck.” The Swans spent Bob’s career moving from city to city and were in the market to buy a ski home they felt comfortable retiring to. But they didn’t like the touristy feel in the crowded villages at the base of ski hills they visited in Colorado, Utah, Montana and New Mexico. When a friend invited them to visit Sun Valley, they fell in love with the town. And their love only grew when they returned in
Opposite: The Swans took a 26-year-old home and not only made it new again, but made it their “forever home.” Below: The great room is the hub of the Swan household.
FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 95
dream homes
Clockwise from top left: The kitchen includes a commercial refrigerator and freezer; the “round room” with cowhide walls offers a quiet place for morning coffee; stunning views from the master bedroom; outdoor dining at its best; the master shower provides a visual connection to the outdoors; the sunken TV room. BUILDER: LLOYD CONSTRUCTION LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: BEN YOUNG LANDSCAPE DESIGN INTERIOR DESIGNER: OHARA DAVIES-GAETANO INTERIORS CABINETRY: CAVALLO CUSTOM WOODWORKS
summer to attend the Allen and Company Conference. They found their dream property in Ketchum’s Northwood neighborhood. “The location was perfect, being so close to town. And the property was perfection,” said Sandra Swan. “But the former owners hadn’t touched the house in 26 years. The master bedroom had pillars, a platform on which the bed sat and even a mirrored ceiling above the bed. All the cabinetry looked alike. And the bathrooms had dated-looking red tile. I sent my decorator some photographs and said, ‘Can we make this work?’ And she said, ‘Absolutely.’” The new home, which uses what Swan calls “the bones” of the former home, is a stunning home made of stone and copper 96 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
siding. Twelve-foot fir doors usher guests into an entryway, in which the original redwood paneling has been lightened with sanding and staining. A skylight boasting geometrically placed beams is one of many in the home. The focal point of the great room is the living room with fireplace. The sunken TV room to the left features a flat-screen TV mounted on metal panel with quarter-inch bolts that offer an industrial feel. A lowslung bar features a grey buffatine countertop that is repeated in other places in the house. The dining room is partially ringed by a low-radius wall, which offers intimacy in the case of a dinner party and openness during bigger parties when guests want to use the entire great room. Touch control lighting
covers everything from all-on to party mode. Just off the dining room is a round room covered in cowhide. It used to be ringed by bookcases reaching to the ceiling but now serves as a game room and a place that guests love to savor their morning coffee while watching deer browse outside. A door leads off the dining room into a small preparation room and the kitchen, which features a commercial refrigerator and freezer and a pantry with pullout drawers behind cabinet doors—just one example of the organization and functionality that plays such a big role in the house. A drawer built into the side of the sink holds sponges. And windows on two sides give the feeling that the kitchen is an extension of the outdoors. “It’s a kitchen attuned to nature. You
feel as if you’re outside, even behind the windows,” Lloyd said. Out in the hall is a 10-foot-tall wine room behind closed doors. The Swans installed a floating wall in the master bedroom to add intimacy to the bedroom, which they felt was oversized. A herringbone stone pattern in the bathroom floor matches the stonework in the steam shower. There, a glass shower built into the stonework of the home’s exterior allows the Swans to commune with birds as they shower. Each of the bathrooms features an entirely different look, thanks to unique mirrors and other types of artwork. But they retain common threads, as well, such as cabinetry and sliding doors made of recycled barn wood. Floor-to-ceiling windows boast
motorized blinds. The guesthouse, approached via a covered walkway, features overhanging steps that look as if they’re floating. A circular portal dominates the front of the home. And the guesthouse is self-contained with a fully equipped laundry. It features a sunken TV room and living room with a fireplace and wraparound couch. A pool table sits behind in one corner, its pool sticks forming a secondary door for one of the energy rooms. A bright red ski chairlift hangs in a little nook, designed so guests can swing on it without banging into the wall. A spiral staircase leads upstairs to a sitting area above the kitchen. And, as with the main house, bedrooms and bathrooms are decorated very distinctly, while carrying the common barn
wood theme. The guesthouse sports one thing the main house does not—an infrared sauna. “My husband’s one of nine kids, so the guesthouse is perfect because we can accommodate family and friends,” Swan said. Outside, patios feature a variety of stonework, including that of sandstone quarried in India. Barbecues feature patina that matches the copper on the house. The fire pit boasts a metal and teak back. And a sunken hot tub sits where the Swans can see Baldy once the aspen drop their leaves in fall. “I put everything I liked into this home,” said Swan. “I said: ‘It’s going to be here forever—it’s worth it.’ It’s the first house we’ve ever bought that we knew we’re going to keep for the rest of our lives. Absolutely, it’s our dream home.” FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 97
dream homes
SIMPLICITY, COMFORT, ELEGANCE by cheryl haas
/ photography by heidi long
S
tepping through the front door of the Luhr residence in Sun Valley and turning the corner into the living room, one’s eye is immediately drawn to the expanse of windows that frames a view of Bald Mountain that is so intimate and yet so huge, it takes one’s breath away. “It’s a ‘pinch-me’ view,” smiled owner Sherri Luhr, “and we never tire of it!” Luhr, an interior designer and former graphic designer, had spent years collecting tear sheets from magazines with architectural details and floor plans, textures, materials and color schemes that captured her interest. After she and her husband Dave, an ad agency executive, purchased the 1.5-acre lot across from the Sun Valley Golf Course, Sherri took a tear sheet of a house she particularly liked to architect Janet Jarvis. “She’d cut it out of a magazine and had carried it around forever and had no idea I’d designed it!” laughed Jarvis. “Our sensitivities to style are very similar, which is one of the reasons we worked so well together.” The Luhrs’ vision was to build a home that was “mountain rustic,” reflective of the Sun
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Valley aesthetic, emphasizing simplicity and comfort but with an understated overlay of elegance. “I wanted it to be a place where my family could be comfortable and relaxed,” she said. And a place where her artistic sensibilities could shine. Luhr chose builder Paul Conrad for his creativity and ability to build not only the house but custom interior elements such as two sets of rolling barn doors and the kitchen range hood. (“I’m a closet interior designer,” he grinned.) Added Jarvis, “A lot of builders will just say ‘give me the plan and I’ll build it’ and they don’t vary from the plan. What’s great about Paul is that he’d call me up and say, ’what if we did this?’ He was full of ideas specific to this house.” The location of the hillside site—while boasting a killer view—presented several practical challenges for Jarvis and Conrad. The soil condition was mostly silt from a centuryold landslide and the lot was at the mouth of a canyon that wouldn’t carry the weight of the house. To transfer the weight from the foundation to bedrock required pilings sunk 40 feet deep and 174 anchors. In addition, a water main ran right through the middle of the lot!
photo : heidi long , longviews studios
The Luhrs’ Sun Valley home blends a rustic aesthetic with stunning views of the natural world
Clockwise from above: The flooring in the living room is made of cerused oak; throughout the house, casement windows open onto breathtaking views; the master bedroom; the view of Baldy from the Luhr residence. ARCHITECT: THE JARVIS GROUP BUILDER: CONRAD BROTHERS CONSTRUCTION LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: CLEMONS ASSOCIATES INTERIOR DESIGNER: SHERRI LUHR
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dream homes
The house was designed to work with the existing topography. Landscape architect Rob King of Clemons Associates was charged with blending the landform into the surrounding landscape while fashioning exterior living areas. Naturalized fescue grasses, which can be mown when the Luhrs want a more traditional lawn, create a low-growing meadow. And King used a limited palette of plants to create a simple overall composition to complement the
“
which adds color and finish. Superior troweling requires the hand of an artisan, says Jarvis. “When clients ask me if they should spend the money on plaster walls, I say yes!” noted Jarvis. “Plastering such as this absorbs sound, reflects light and gives off a warmth that you just can’t get with drywall.” Guests who merely glance at the dining room wall that abuts the master bedroom often look askance at their hostess’ choice to leave
If you look closely, you’ll see the wood is actually backed with mirror. I love the way it bounces back the light.”
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what appear to be gaps between the bedroom and the reclaimed wood slats on the wall. “If you look closely, you’ll see the wood is actually backed with mirror,” said Luhr. “I love the way it bounces back the light.” The kitchen can be separated from the dining and living areas by rolling the metal barn doors. Luhr had a tearsheet of a rolling barn door she’d seen in a winery, and Conrad and his metalworkers were able to create a custom door for her with a warm, rich patina. He also created the hood over the LaCanche French range. As he likes to do, Conrad first made a model from wood to ensure that the size and scale were correct before committing his client’s resources to metal. Windows are the soul of the home, says Jarvis, and she and the Luhrs spent considerable time to find a company that would create the details they wanted. Bend River Sash supplied the casement windows with clever pull-down screens that won’t block the view and muntin bars. The bars create a more traditional feel while the upsize of the windows add a modern twist. The windows outside are framed in wirebrushed cedar that will withstand the elements; inside, they are smooth. Both architect and builder were cognizant of blending the right materials—shingle, barnwood, metal and stone—for a sense of permanence in the exterior and interior to achieve the Luhrs’ vision. But the sweeping vista is what drove all else. “Before we laid the foundation, Paul built a viewing platform at floor level on the site” said Luhr. “Dave and I would sit there in our beach chairs with our glasses of wine and just drink in the view.”
photo : heidi long , longviews studios
surrounding vegetation. The result is a seamless visual transition in color and texture from the house itself to the setting of meadow grasses, trees, sky and, of course, Baldy itself. “I love, love, love the siting of the hot tub!” exclaimed Luhr. (King placed the tub just to the side of the bank of living room windows so as not to obstruct the view from the interior.) “We turn off the lights and it’s like camping: there are millions of stars! I love the simplicity of it.” Nowhere is the view more breathtaking than in the living room. The vista of River Run is framed by the soft arch of distressed reclaimed beams from Idaho Glulam. Angled knee braces flow halfway down the sidewalls in a graceful touch. Luhr’s color palette throughout the home is neutral and understated, reflecting the natural hues of the surrounding meadow. The colors softly whisper a promise of relaxation. An 18-footlong pinball table, situated directly beneath the windows that face the iconic mountain, is testament to Luhr’s ability to keep the house comfortable for family as well as stylish. The flooring in the living room is cerused oak. Ceruse is a derivative of white lead that was once used as a face powder by Queen Elizabeth and her 16th century contemporaries. Toxic to human skin, cabinetmakers used a paste to fill the open grain of oak planks, which highlighted the grain, also known as limed oak. Today, ceruse is made from non-toxic colored waxes. The diamond plaster walls have a lime base and are what Conrad calls “old school.” The technique is labor intensive and involves three layers: the scratch coat, the brown coat which gives it density and texture, and the final coat
—SHERRI LUHR, HOMEOWNER
Clockwise from above: Landscape architect Rob King fashioned numerous outdoor living spaces at the Luhr home; rolling metal barn doors separate the kitchen from the dining area; as throughout the house, stone, metal and barnwood are elegantly blended in the bathrooms and walkways.
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kitchens
HUB OF THE HOME
New trends for convenience and style in the kitchen
lighten up Homeowners are brightening up their kitchens with neutral tones like whites and greys.
As the morning sun peeks over the mountains, bacon sizzles, coffee brews, and chatter begins. “What’s for breakfast?” rings down the hallway. Discussions abound: “Who’s coming over for dinner, again?” Plans are made to run to the store after work. Lunches are packed. The day begins. The kitchen is the pulse of the home. We start our days and end them around mealtimes: chatting at countertops, chopping and dicing, and entertaining family and friends. It’s no wonder the urge to keep the most lived-in room in our homes current and conveniently designed is so strong. In 2015, kitchens were the most remodeled room in homes, with 31 percent of interior projects focusing on where we 102 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
cook and spend so much time, according to Houzz & Home’s survey of over 120,000 homeowners. Current trends bridged from painted wood cabinets and tech hubs to hidden appliances and steam ovens. Whether you’re looking to give your kitchen a new look, hoping to replace some outdated appliances, or considering a complete remodel, we caught up with some of Sun Valley’s best and brightest in the world of kitchens to bring you the latest trends and styles.
Plug In
Jenni Conrad, a certified bathroom and kitchen designer, has owned Five Star Kitchen & Bath for 15 years. A full-service design
firm, Conrad and team are a turnkey business for revamping or remodeling your space. Over the years, she’s noticed the kitchen morph into a living room, a place to gather and sometimes plug in. “People are coming home from work or school and gathering in the kitchen,” she said. “It’s a place to cook together as a family while the kids are at the countertop doing homework. It is a time to catch up and interact.” Technology stations are a must for busy, plugged-in families. Think kitchen island turned technology hub with USB ports, extra electrical outlets, and bigger counter space leaving enough room for meal prep and sifting through your favorite cooking app.
photo : sun valley photo
by kate hull
sleek cabinetry
photos : courtesy architectural resources
No more handles. Instead, a motorized system that opens a space with a simple touch.
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“These are the catch-all tables where you need extra space, enough space for computers, iPads and phone charging stations. You can put them in one spot and charge them and you can control your cords more,” offered Conrad.
Sleek & Simple
In the way of appliances, new technology tends to reign supreme. But in the Wood River Valley, homeowners are searching for simplicity as well as the latest in functionality. Hidden appliances do the trick. “Years ago, people didn’t mind having their countertops filled with knives and blenders. Now they want it nice and clean, but still
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www.ketchumkustomwoodworks.com FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 103
kitchens
steam ovens in every kitchen,” said Smith. The new norm for kitchens, steam ovens can be used for all baking and cooking needs. For those not willing to lose the convection option just yet, a combination oven with both capabilities is a great place to start. What’s more, steam ovens are the healthiest way to cook, allowing foods to retain the most nutrients, the perfect pairing for an active community like Sun Valley.
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People are coming home from work or school and gathering in the kitchen. It’s a place to cook together as a family while the kids are at the countertop doing homework. It is a time to catch up and interact.” —JENNY CONRAD, OWNER OF FIVE STAR KITCHEN & BATH
accessible,” said Conrad. People don’t want a lot of fuss. Everything has its place.” Interior designers are working to put the most-used appliances in custom cabinetry and hidden storage. Conrad not only designs the placing and exterior of cabinets, she works hard to provide ample space inside to store whatever the client needs, from bakeware to china. Hidden appliances keep smaller spaces feeling open. Homeowners are also brightening up their kitchens with painted cabinets in neutral tones like whites and greys rather than exposed wooden cabinets. Jennifer Hoey Smith, of Jennifer Hoey Interior Design, based in Ketchum, prides 104 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
Modern kitchens are being designed to minimize the amount of “clutter”— blenders, toasters and other small appliances—on the countertops.
herself on designing spaces that stand the test of time, but she’s still constantly keeping up with the design buzz. “We travel across the nation and abroad to see what is trending. That is an important part of living in a small town like Ketchum. You can have the best of both: the mountain living and new industry finds.” Smith has installed sleek drawer and cabinet systems that nixed the handles and pulley method and added a motorized hinge system that opens the space with a simple touch. Ready to close it? Another touch and it glides to a silent close. The door releases horizontally, keeping your space open and providing a contemporary European look.
Upgraded Ovens
Although colors and popular material trends come and go, some new items seem to have more staying power. The steam oven, at least in Sun Valley, is one. A healthier way to cook, steam ovens turn the water into steam and help food retain moisture better than a traditional convection oven. “From baking to crisping the outside of the chicken, it is a standard now. We are putting
everybody wants one Steam ovens are becoming increasingly popular, as food cooked in them better retains moisture and nutrients.
photos : courtesy fisher appliance
no more clutter
Whether downsizing to a more manageable space or retiring to a condo, many residents are choosing to live in smaller spaces but aren’t sacrificing convenience or functionality. LeeAnn Ferris and her husband Greg, owners of Sun Valley Kitchen & Bath, have been in the design business for over 30 years. LeeAnn says the biggest change she’s noticed recently is the desire to live smaller. Appliances, however, have finally caught up with the trend, offering smaller options, from 18-inch-wide dishwashers to narrower and taller refrigerators. “Europe has always offered these smaller options, but now that niche is coming to the U.S.,” said LeeAnn. Her design work is no longer dictated by limited sizes of appliances, she explained. She and her team can open up smaller rooms with hidden appliances, taller cabinets, and solid, seamless countertops. But the best new trend is the micro-appliances, she says. Wherever your style takes you, one trend that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere is the kitchen as the hub of the home.
/ oven : heather coulthard
Small Spaces
heating
WINTER WARMTH
Alternative heating systems offer long-term savings and environmental benefits by kelly hennessy
With mountain winters bringing subzero temperatures and waist-high snowdrifts, heating one’s home takes on special significance. We have devised all types of methods to battle the cold, from fireplaces to the first central heating systems invented by the Romans, which sent heat from a furnace up through a web of pipes hidden behind walls and under floors. Most North American homes these days still rely on an updated form of that ancient system: a central furnace, generally powered by natural gas, burns a flame that heats the air, which is piped throughout the house. These are commonly referred to as forced-air heating systems. Some homeowners, however, are stepping outside the box, looking for ways to heat their home more sustainably and efficiently. Whether driven by economic or environmental concerns, many are looking to update their heating systems. 106 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
One way of decreasing the heating costs and environmental impact of your home is to simply build a home that requires less energy. Designing a home that is well insulated and does not lose heat ensures that you are not wasting any energy. Steve Kearns, a contractor with Kearns, McGinnis and Vandenberg Builders, stressed the importance of designing an airtight home, as, he argued, “Air infiltration is a killer, because it contributes hugely to energy loss.” When working on one of the first LEED Gold houses in the Valley, Kearns’ company focused first and foremost on reducing the energy requirements. Energy-efficient homes should have insulation on both the inside and outside of the wall, he explained, to guarantee heat is not slipping out through the thermal break in the wood. “Building codes are changing to require more and more insulation, and it’s reducing the energy
necessary to heat the home, which then minimizes the requirements on the equipment you are using,” Kearns said. Once a home is airtight, there are various options to pursue regarding heating equipment. For those with an existing forcedair heating system, an upgrade can increase your energy efficiency without a complete overhaul. “While most furnaces used to be about 80 percent efficient, in terms of natural gas use, a high-efficiency boiler or furnace can be up to 95 percent efficient, meaning most of the gas is converted into actually heating or cooling the house,” Kearns noted. For environmentally conscious homeowners who want to go the extra mile, solar-thermal and geothermal systems are both innovative options to reduce one’s carbon footprint. The solar-thermal systems require a collector bank of solar panels, which collect energy from the sun and convert it into heat.
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heating
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The heat is then transferred to water that travels between the collectors and a thermal storage tank. The hot water stored in the tank can be used for radiant or forced-air heating systems, as well as any hot-water demands. Billy Mann, the managing director of Altenergy Inc., has installed over 80 systems in the Valley. Investing in solar energy has “huge financial, environmental, social and local economic benefits,” he argued. “An investment in solar yields better financial returns, through savings on your energy bills, than most Wall Street investments, and the savings are tax free. And instead of paying utilities, which pulls nearly $80 million out of our local economy every year, going solar keeps that money in the Valley to be spent several times over.” In addition, the environmental benefits of eschewing fossil fuels are well established. Geothermal systems are another green option that many are using to heat their homes. Regardless of where one lives, the temperature beneath a home is constant, at roughly 50 degrees. Geothermal systems tap into that reliable heat source by placing what Brian Formusa, an engineer specializing in HVAC systems, termed “a reverse air conditioner” underneath the home. Rather than pushing hot air out, the heat pump, 108 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
How Solar Thermal Systems Work
Above: Over 100 homes in the Wood River Valley have installed solar systems, which include both flat panel and evacuated tube technologies.
willing to consider the long-term benefits. It can take a decade or more to break even, and with Idaho’s low natural gas costs and the subsidized nature of fossil fuels in the U.S., it is hard for many to economically justify the acquisition. However, the equation could change soon, if natural gas prices rebound, as many predict they will. In a world where fossil fuels are bound to become increasingly rare and expensive, investing in alternative options is an economically wise action. Regardless of economic cost, the environmental benefits are obvious and important, and any concerned citizen with the means to make a difference would be well rewarded by investing in one of these new, energy-efficient heating options.
Solar evacuated tubes mounted on a roof collect heat from the sun, which is then transferred to a heat pipe connected to the tubes. Water flows along the heat pipe, is heated, and is then returned to a thermal storage tank in the house.
The hot water in a thermal storage tank can be used to heat the home in a number of ways. The heat of the water can be transferred to air in a forced air system, used to heat glycol in radiant floors, supply running hot water for the household, or even heat a swimming pool.
homes : courtesy sagebrush solar
“
An investment in solar yields better financial returns, through savings on your energy bills, than most Wall Street investments, and the savings are tax free.”
connected to an underground well system, or, alternatively, a set of tubing, collects the heat from the ground and compresses it to a much higher temperature, which is then released to heat the home. The system can also cool your home in the summer, using the relatively cooler ground temperature. Under Formusa’s oversight, the Blaine County School District has installed geothermal systems in its schools, most recently at Hemingway Elementary, which Formusa completed in 2013. The school district now has almost one million square feet of geothermally-heated buildings in the Valley. With these systems, Formusa opted to use an underground well, fed by the aquifer, to run through the outdoor condenser. One drawback to these green options is the upfront costs. Both systems require costly initial investments, and homeowners must be
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greenhouses
BACKYARD BOUNTY
Home-styled greenhouses bring joy and an extended growing season by kira tenney
“For me, the satisfaction of planting a seed, watching it grow, harvesting, and then nourishing my family is a reminder of the cycle of life,” beamed Chrissie Huss, owner of Edible by Design. “In the garden, there’s something about having my hands in the soil that’s meditative and ageless; anyone can do it, from small children to the elderly. It’s a universal language.” The joys of gardening and growing one’s own food are abundant, from nourishing the soul to reducing the impacts of the petroleum it takes to fuel the 1,500 miles the average American meal travels to get to a plate these days. Whether it’s the simplicity of better tasting and more nutritious food 110 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
or addressing climate change through small, personal actions, the trend in the Wood River Valley to build backyard greenhouses is sprouting. “Well, you know, it can randomly snow here in June or July,” Lexie Praggastis said, laughing as she described how her husband, John Reuter, decided to build a small greenhouse in their yard in East Fork. The couple first “fell in love with personal food production” when they were living in a basement apartment in Hulen Meadows and started an outdoor vegetable garden. The following year they bought a house in East Fork and were given a plastic hoop house, which is a PVC pipe structure covered in
greenhouse plastic. Edible by Design is a company that consults with people on how to start beautiful and functional edible gardens of their own. They will also design and build greenhouses from start to finish, if requested. Owner Huss explained that she tends to, “use temporary hoop houses because they’re great for the shoulder seasons and allow being able to get things started earlier in the growing season. Not everyone loves how they look, but they are very utilitarian and economical.” Praggastis and Reuter found that their hoop house didn’t hold heat overnight and with vegetables still subject to a frost, they decided to invest in building a greenhouse.
photos : dev khalsa
A green building consultant and owner of John Reuter Greenworks, Reuter saw it as an opportunity to design an efficient, functional and attractive greenhouse for their “minihomestead,” which is complete with chicken coop. “I modified a design I used in grad school until I was confident that it could retain enough heat in winter to avoid frost the majority of the year, and it worked,” Reuter said. “This year we grew tomatoes through November and re-planted the first week of February,” Reuter recounted, beaming. The typical outdoor growing season in the Wood River Valley is year dependent and can vary by location but generally falls around midMay through September. In their greenhouse Praggastis and Reuter grow kale, chard, tomatoes, beans, squash, strawberries, raspberries, potatoes, broccoli, beets and more. What they plant and harvest varies throughout the seasons. Reuter noted that, “The trick with an effective greenhouse is to mitigate enormous temperature swings of too hot during the day and too cold at night. The right combination of solar gain, insulation, and thermal mass can create a year-round greenhouse that doesn’t need supplemental heating.” However, it is worth keeping in mind that due to less light everything grows more slowly in the short days of winter. Kathryn Guylay, founder of the nonprofit NURTURE and author of “Give it a Go, Eat a Rainbow,” moved with her family from
FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 111
greenhouses
Above: Lexie Praggastis and John Reuter (pictured at center) built a greenhouse on their East Fork property. They now grow kale, chard, tomatoes, beans, squash, strawberries, raspberries, potatoes, broccoli, and beets in what has become, for them, an extended growing season.
112 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
Chicago to Sun Valley in 2010. Through years of experimentation, the Guylays found that the best way to mitigate the hot greenhouse temperatures on Idaho summer days is to use planters with wheels on them so that they can wheel the planters outside during the hot months. “There are greenhouse kits available online that aren’t that expensive,” said Guylay. “And even if you start with a window sill planter with fresh herbs—basil, thyme, oregano—it does wonders for cooking and that satisfaction of picking and eating something right there, that you have grown.” Backyard greenhouse-ers all made sure to note that it takes some experimenting to manage temperatures, as well as control aphids and other pests. However, they also all agreed that the pleasure of growing one’s own food in the backyard is a true joy, not to mention delicious.
Local girl Sara Berman and farm boy Ed Zinader fell in love digging in the dirt, making compost, and sharing fresh food with the local community. Berman grew up in Sun Valley and attended Kenyan College in Ohio, which kick started an ever-growing passion for sustainable farming. After Kenyan, Sara traveled to South America working on various farms and later returned to Hailey to work as the Spanish teacher and greenhouse director at The Sage School. Zinader was born and bred a farm boy; his mother’s family had a dairy farm in New Jersey and his father’s family had a chicken farm in New York. He worked on multiple farms in Washington and Montana, taught farming for the Peace Corps in Malawi, and eventually made his way to the Wood River Valley. “Where we live in Idaho, we are generally very cut off from our food sources,” Zinader noted. “It’s really important to get food from where we live. It takes a large amount of petroleum to distribute food and when you get food from a farmer, it’s simply fresher and more nutritious than what you get out of a truck.” Fueled by a passion for farming, Berman and Zinader bought 7 acres in Bellevue and started Squash Blossom Farm. In 2016, Squash Blossom Farm created what’s referred to as a CSA, community supported agriculture. In a CSA, customers sign up for a full season of vegetables, which, for Squash Blossom, is a weekly share for 18 weeks. For farmers, the CSA model is beneficial because customers pay up front and that money can be used immediately to buy seeds and to cover other associated farming costs. The customers, for their part, get to enjoy locally grown, farm-fresh food for an entire season. Shares start with vegetables, such as spinach, radish and spring onion, and fill in later in the season with raspberries, garlic, summer squash, potatoes and carrots. Although it has not been yet certified organic, Squash Blossom Farm abides by the highest standards in food production. “We make all of our own compost and everything we bring in is certified organic,” Zinader said. “Basically, we don’t put anything on our food or in our soil that I wouldn’t eat.” Zinader and Berman have an open door policy and invite anyone to stop by the Squash Blossom Farm. So far, their distribution is based on word of mouth, and the best way to buy weekly surplus or to sign up for next year’s CSA is on the Squash Blossom Farm Facebook page.
photos : dev khalsa
COMMUNITY GARDENS
rug culture
Terry Reid of Davies-Reid relaxes in his Ketchum shop.
114 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
WHERE EAST MEETS WEST How globalization can thrive at the local level
photo : ray gadd
by kelly hennessy
The collaboration of cultures has seemed to define much of Terry Reid and Sharon Davies’ lives. Self-described “hippies” and prolific travellers, Davies and Reid have managed to blend the spirit of the West with the arts of the East, and in doing so, have become a paragon of globalization. As the Soviets entered Afghanistan in December 1979, millions of Afghanis fled across the border into Pakistan, setting up refugee cities along the western border. Terry Reid, a veteran traveller, went to the home of one of these refugees in the 1990s, a Turkmen friend living in Peshawar. During this visit, he was struck by a central facet of Turkmen life: the loom. “The heart of the Turkmen home is the loom. This is where women sit together, have throughout their history, and create these rugs, these beautiful works of art,” Reid said. Turkmen have been weaving rugs for centuries, using local materials and natural dyes. With the Western world hungry for “oriental” accents in their homes, rug factories began popping up, replacing workmanship with commercial production. “Rugs today are made in a program line, where you make it over and over again, the exact same thing,” Reid lamented. These refugees, displaced and impoverished, were stuck making pale imitations of this art, unable to access the materials necessary to produce traditional Turkmen rugs. In their struggle, Reid and his partner Sharon Davies saw an opportunity that would benefit both their Ketchum business, Davies-Reid, and their refugee friends. The Turkmen weavers had an abundance of skill and dearth of material. Davies and Reid could help the weavers find both suitable materials and a market in which to sell the finished project. FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 115
rug culture
Left: “The heart of the Turkmen home is the loom,” says Reid. Above: Davies and Reid seek out natural dyes found in Central Asia to use in their rugs.
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With their on-site manager Mohammed Kamil, Davies and Reid began reviving the tribes’ old skills, seeking out high-mountain, hand-spun wools and raw, natural dyes. They utilized Western money and markets, and Turkmen skills and craft. Their business flourished and grew, with Davies and Reid selling the rugs alongside their other discoveries in their shops, now in Ketchum, Jackson, Wyoming, and Park City, Utah. The rugs themselves are an emblem of the blending of cultures brought on by Davies and Reid. They have infused the colors of their own lives through their threads, working with the weavers to bring the West into this Eastern art. “While there is the traditional coloration of the rugs—the reds, blues, purples—what we would do is … take pictures of fields of wheat or weeds, or maroon willows, and look at those colors that came together in nature. That’s where our basis was; our coloration was based on the earth around us,” Reid explained. Reid and Davies have done research into Navajo art and found that creating a similar aesthetic required “simplifying everything, using very little dye, and natural browns, greys, beiges,” Reid said. Using the handspun, high-mountain wool purchased from their Pashtun suppliers and natural dyes allows for variations in the coloration. This ensures “the rugs can look just like a billowing field of wheat,” Reid added. “When we make a rug, you can put it in a house, and it will 116 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
just blend into the outdoors.” All of this intermingling has become easier over time as the world has become increasingly connected. Reid both bemoans and delights in this inter-connectedness. He misses the days of complete disconnection, when a traveler could step into another world without outside interference. The Western world has permeated the rest, transforming former sanctuaries. Reid recalled how it was, “such a real experience traveling to places in the world where there aren’t travelers.” Nowadays, with a smartphone or a laptop, you are never far from home. On the other hand, this interconnectedness has benefitted his business. He can speak with his vendors, anywhere from Delhi to Peshawar, all from the comfort of his office. This is a far cry from the beginning, when it would take hours, or even a trip across the world, to achieve the same result. He reminisced, “I remember when faxes came along. It was huge! Even though I would have to sit here for three hours every time I needed to send one. And then all of a sudden email pops up, and all you need is a phone.” Even though he can now communicate easily with their far-flung branches of business, it is doubtful that either he or Davies will ever give up their discovery trips. Travelling was both the impetus and the most enjoyable part of their business. “With these cultures that you get to live with and work in and understand, bottom line, it’s made for an incredibly interesting life,” he said.
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inthearts WHEN BREATH BECOMES LIGHT The contemplative art of Pegan Brooke by laurie sammis
Pegan Brooke wants to get to the heart of things. She wants to become the essence of what she is painting, feeling her way into the inner space of a thing to locate what is unique and inexpressible in it. She might have been a philosopher, but because she is an artist, her chosen medium for doing this is through paint on canvas. And with the focus of her current body of work centering on the natural beauty and sustained reflection of light falling on water, at the present moment, what she wants to become is water. This was a natural space for the girl from Southern California, whose earliest memories were of water, surfing and swimming in the waves and swells of the Pacific Ocean. “I love all water … clouds, rain, fog,” Brooke said from her studio in Ketchum this past spring. “It is amazing to me that the rain here today might have once been a cloud in Zimbabwe.”
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For Brooke, water is a visual phenomenon that creates awe and wonder, and is a perfect natural metaphor for the ever-changing flux in which we make our lives. And while there is incredible movement of brushstroke and color within the field of her landscapeinspired abstract paintings, her canvases also present carefully constructed patterns of rising and receding color fields, which create natural rhythms of tone and color that both soothe and calm. There is a quality of air to her paintings that seems to shimmer and slide in exactly the same manner as light falling on an unbroken expanse of ocean or mist glinting off crystals of snow. The work is ethereal and her paintings seem almost to breathe the space in which they hang so that we are drawn to them in the way that worshippers are drawn to a temple, climbers to a high mountain vista.
Background: Detail of Pegan Brooke’s “S-173,” 30 in. x 24 in., oil on canvas
Laura Wilson
Photograph
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inthearts // profile
“
My intention for the viewer would be that I give them enough that they stay and I leave space for them to have their own thoughts.”
There is both an openness and quiet intimacy to each work, drawing perhaps out of the thoughtful and careful attention to her process. Brooke’s work is deliberate and focused, almost meditative. Her Ketchum studio is orderly and neat, sparse in its trappings, and with an absence of any natural light so that she is able to paint entirely from intuition and feeling. “I enjoy phenomenon—literature, dance, philosophy—that points to an internal space,” she stated, but is quick to add that, for her, it is not about the internal space of the self but about looking within, or without, to find the thing that has meaning for other people. “There is a difference between intuition and intellect,” she continued, stressing the importance of trusting your instincts and running it through your mind so it can find form. The form her paintings take are predominantly tonalist works built from a series of squares, which capture, in a myriad of brushstrokes and gradations of oil paint, the unique refractions of water and light. “Each square represents a snapshot of reality, a moment in time marked by a piece of light falling on a piece of water,” Brooke said. It is her way of “thinking through paint.” What is left is Brooke’s intuition of the image she has seen, a reconstituted illusion of something that is both breathtaking in its natural beauty and fleeting in its inability to remain static. “I love things that one can only see in an instant,” said Brooke, “they shock us into contemplation, thought and change.” In the same manner that light falls upon water, at times reflecting back into the air and at times diffusing into long fingers and 120 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
photos : kirsten shultz
— PEGAN BROOKE
Above: Brooke in her Ketchum studio.
sheets of mist, the muted tonality of Brooke’s canvases shift and move, changing tone and depth based on where the viewer is standing in the room. As you move around the canvas, there is nearly a constant shifting of paint and brushstroke, color and movement. Her favorite project to date was a series of 10 pieces created in homage to the moment almost in absence of light—the sunrise or sunset of each day. “It was about the line of where the light goes down, with reference to the tides and cycles of repetition and flux,” Brooke stated enthusiastically, as she recalled
how much she loved making the series. “I loved the idea of flux and of expanding my work on something along a timeline,” she continued, “I loved the process of becoming nature, becoming a month, becoming a season.” The piece, made in her Ketchum studio, went all the way around one wall of the room and speaks to an essential element of Brooke’s work. “I’m not only trying to create space for my viewer, I’m asking them to move ... I want them to move their bodies,” she claimed, “because I want my paintings to be like the shore or the riverbank. I want movement.”
studio photos : kirsten shultz
/ paintings : pegan brooke, courtesy ochi gallery
inthearts // profile
Paintings, clockwise from top: “S-189,” 60 in. x 42 in.; “S-172,” 26 in. x 36 in.;“S-194,” 30 in. x 24 in.; oil on canvas. Above: Brooke, who shows her work at Ochi Gallery, has studios in Ketchum and in Bolinas, Calif.
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For Brooke, art is more than just process. The creation of each canvas becomes an exploration into the creative contemplation of taking up space in this life. Her work seems to become a meditation of mixing paint, tone upon tone in variations of subtle shades of misty yellow and sunlit gold, or silvery twilight and hazy blue, and placing brushstrokes one by one on canvas. She is deliberate in her work, moving across the canvas from top to bottom, painting from her ladder, and placing one brushstroke over another in a different stroke or style, as she creates from a place of deep contemplation of the very essence of her subject. It is perhaps for this reason that a Pegan
Brooke painting cannot be captured on the page. Somehow her canvases exist to change and shift, expand and recede, rise and flow in the manner of light passing over or through water. Each painting offers an invitation to decelerate from the instant on and off of technology and all that we carry with us through each day, thus becoming an invocation to contemplate other ideas: simplicity, movement, reflection, space. Brooke’s intention is to provide space, a container for thought and introspection, and it is telling that her most cherished reaction to her work was when one viewer, an artist herself, proclaimed, “The paintings take my breath away, even as they give me air.”
Above: Justice Stephen Breyer speaking at the 2016 Sun Valley Writers’ Conference
DEMYSTIFYING THE SUPREME COURT A conversation with Justice Stephen Breyer by adam tanous
If there is one man to dispel the notion of the Supreme Court as a rarefied ivory tower from which it hands down decisions to the rest of us, it is Justice Stephen Breyer. It goes without saying that he is extraordinarily intelligent and articulate, with a sweeping command of history, people and ideas. As a professor of law at Harvard Law School for 27 years and serving as an associate Supreme Court justice for 22 years, Breyer would seem on the surface to be the most intimidating of interviews imaginable. But imagine, too, a 78-year-old Supreme Court justice arriving to the interview in swimming shorts, fresh from a bike ride and a swim in the Big Wood River. Imagine a justice worried about sitting on the Sun Valley Inn deck chairs for fear his wet 124 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
swimming trunks might ruin them. Maybe that’s the kind of thing that only happens in Sun Valley, but, still, it says something about the man. Breyer clearly has plenty to do, yet he has found time while serving on the land’s highest court to write three books. His latest, which he discussed at this summer’s Sun Valley Writers’ Conference, is “The Court and the World.” In it he illustrates through cases that have come before the Court how the reality of global interconnectedness increasingly requires the Court to consider foreign laws and activities. These cases, Justice Breyer points out, come in the form of national security issues and petitions for writs of habeas corpus, international commerce disputes, and
problems related to treaties and international organizations with binding agreements among member states. Breyer explained that he writes books so that he can “…show people, not tell them, how the Court works over time, at least during my time,” he said. “It’s part of my job. Not everyone has to write; there are other ways of doing it. If you ask people in public life what is their most important job, it is to get the next generation to understand how our government works. The Court is a mystery to many. So, perhaps I can help people to understand it.” For one, Breyer said the Court “…is much more mechanical than people think.” He described how the process begins with
photo : barbi reed, courtesy sun valley writers’ conference
inthearts // justice breyer
Severn Art ServiceS since 1974
reading submitted briefs on the cases and memoranda that the justices ask their clerks to prepare—treatises on various issues they are concerned about. They hear oral arguments, though Breyer pointed out that that is a relatively small part of the process. Then the nine justices meet in conference privately—no one else is present but the judges. “It’s totally
Master Framing & Installation
“
Usually, the word ‘liberty’ is not a problem; that is, understanding the word. What is a problem is understanding the scope of the phrase that uses the word ‘liberty’ in the 14th Amendment.” — SUPREME COURT JUSTICE STEPHEN BREYER
private. And people say what they really think,” Breyer said. They go around the table in order of seniority, beginning with the chief justice, and each justice states what he or she thinks about each case. The justices each have a book with the cases and they write down what the other justices say about the case. “No one speaks twice until everyone speaks once. And then there will be some back and forth,” Breyer said. The justices will then take a vote and come to a temporary conclusion. “Half our cases are unanimous, probably 5-4 is 20 percent. It’s not the same five or same four, by any means,” Breyer explained. Then the Chief Justice will assign the writing of the majority opinion after each two-week oral session. That judge will work with his clerks to create a draft opinion that is then circulated among all of the judges. Judges will weigh in on certain points, ask for clarifications or additional points. “If I’m writing the opinion, for example, I’ll get suggestions, ‘why don’t you change this? I like that and if you change it this way I’ll join the opinion,” Breyer said. Those in the minority may also write a dissent and proceed in a similar fashion. A thread throughout “The Court and the World” is the importance and challenge of understanding words. Breyer explained his task on the Court this way: “The job requires us to look at works on paper, sometimes the FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 125
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Constitution, sometimes statutes. And those words are in front of us and the question is what do they mean and how do they apply in the particular case because lower court judges, in similar cases, applying these same words have come to different conclusions.” Breyer pointed out that in his analysis he will typically look at “text, history, precedent, tradition, purpose, and consequences.” But the understanding of the words is not something found in a dictionary. For example, he said, “Usually, the word ‘liberty’ is not a problem; that is, understanding the word. What is a problem is understanding the scope of the phrase that uses the word ‘liberty’ in the 14th Amendment (due process and equal protection of the law) … So you look at the history of the phrase, to the tradition, the context, purpose—somebody wrote those words, what was their intention? And consequences as viewed through the lens of their intentions.” He noted that some judges, notably Judge Scalia (recently deceased), are hesitant to weigh purpose and intent of a given statute or Constitutional phrase. While there are many “originalist” judges in the judicial world, he described a back and forth he often had with Scalia. The latter held the position that if one delved into the purpose and intent of a given statute or phrase in the Constitution, he or she would open the door to the subjective views of judges. Breyer said he would counter Scalia, arguing that if he interpreted solely on the text, rulings would be too rigid. “This is a document that is supposed to affect how people live over a long period of time,” he said. “Really, it’s his (Scalia’s) view that he
wants clear rules. And he will work pretty hard to get a clear, general rule. But I’ll say sometimes it’s dangerous to have a rule because situations come up that you never thought of and it will hit you in the face.” In the end, Breyer said, it was really a difference in “temperament and degree. He’s more comfortable with rules … I’m more willing to live with a mess.” The two were on the bench together for 22 years and Breyer said he loved working with “Nino,” as he called him; they were good friends and he clearly enjoyed his time with him. In a sense, that “mess” is the way we make decisions in this country. More than once in our conversation Breyer cited Tocqueville and how accurate he was in describing the way Americans solve problems, essentially through argument and trial and error. “We try out all kinds of things, then we scream at each other, then we try out some more things, maybe in an administrative rule, maybe in a state law, maybe in a federal law, or agreement. Then we change things. It’s a learning process, and we’d like to hope it works toward the better.“ Sometimes, though, the disputes do not get resolved through the process and they end up before Breyer and his colleagues. And normally, he said, “The Court works best when it comes in at the end of the process to say … not whether the solution is the best solution, but whether the solution is within the bounds that the Constitution sketches. “Because that’s what the Constitution does, it’s a set of boundaries. It doesn’t tell people what to do. It tells them what are the limits on their deciding for themselves of what to do.”
THE NEigHborHood CoffEE sHop LoCaLLy roasTEd CoffEE CrafTEd by HaNd HomE bakEd goods brEakfasT & LuNCH 208 N. river street, Hailey, id (208) 928-6200 blackowlcoffee208.com Above: Books written by Justice Stephen Breyer in 2016, 2011 and 2006, respectively.
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photos : penguin random house
inthearts // justice breyer
inthearts // susan casey
‘VOICES IN THE OCEAN’
Susan Casey’s exploration of water and dolphins
by laurie sammis
Author Susan Casey just might be obsessed with water. Her most recent New York Times bestseller “Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins” is the third book she has written covering the watery realms—her previous two focusing on specific subcultures of the world’s oceans, including great white sharks (“The Devil’s Teeth”) and the obsession with, and science behind, freak and rogue waves (“The Wave”). “One of the reasons I like to write about the ocean is that it is such a massive part of our planet,” said Casey during a break from the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference this past July. The other reason might be that, as a former competitive swimmer, Casey is comfortable in the watery mass that represents about 98 percent of the living space by volume on our planet. In fact, it was after a chance encounter with a pod of spinner dolphins during a solo swim in Honolua Bay on Maui that she became infatuated with the science and mystery of dolphins. Casey’s experience in the waters off Maui began a five-year journey into the world of dolphins. Along the way, she explored the 128 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
science behind dolphin communication and navigation, the unique structure of the dolphin brain, and the various cults, myths, beliefs and practices surrounding this family of toothed whales, or cetaceans. What she discovered during countless interviews, research and investigation, was that the dolphin-human relationship is even more complicated than we can possibly imagine. “Dolphins are at the junction of where the land meets humanity,” stated Casey, who feels we are at a critical juncture on our plant
in relation to our oceans and the creatures in them. “Nobody is unemotional around a dolphin,” asserted Casey. She points out that dolphins are large-brained, air-breathing mammals, just like humans. And she reminds us that they have evolved in a way that allows them to successfully live and thrive in the dominant ecosystem on our planet, but that they have done so in harmony and in balance with the systems that sustain them. It is an adaptation that many human cultures are still working to navigate.
author photos : rennio maifredi , courtesy susan casey ; book cover : penguin random house
“Scientists have determined that cetaceans learn emotionally, they pass along information and build on it,” Casey said, citing scientific studies that indicate that dolphins use cooperative language and signals, and are even given a unique name by other members of the pod, a call or whistle that stays with that individual for life and can be recalled by other dolphins 10 or 15 years later. The case for dolphin intelligence is a strong thread throughout Casey’s book, a belief that is supported by preeminent dolphin researcher and biopsychologist, Dr. Lori Marino. Casey quotes Marino as follows: “If an alien life form had landed on this planet 100,000 years ago and asked to be taken to our most intelligent creatures, they would have been led directly into the oceans to meet the dolphins and whales because they have been on the planet 34.8 million years longer than we have.” You get the sense that there is a lot more there than we are able to understand. “I’m not a scientist,” claimed Casey. “I am a person who wants to venture into a world really deeply and talk to the great scientists, because they are the ones with the amazing facts and stories. It’s my job to gather all that information and create a narrative template that enables me to put in the science in a way that I know the lay person can understand it completely.” Casey believes that if she can understand it, others will, too. And she believes it is of vital importance for us to understand it. “I want to take people into the ocean,” Casey continued, reiterating her adherence to marine biologist Sylvia Earle’s belief that what we do in the next 10 years will determine the next 10,000 years on our planet. Susan Casey hopes that we have the intelligence and heart to realize that we are part of nature, and it is part of us. And maybe, just maybe, through that understanding, we will be able to embark upon a period of relearning and, in the process, discover the resiliency of our oceans and how to live in balance and harmony with them in a similar manner to the dolphins and whales—the other intelligent life on the planet. Photos: Casey spent five years researching dolphins (bottom left: Crete, Greece) to gain insight into their mysterious lives, which she details in her new bestseller.
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130 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
GO GREEN
Leafy greens could be the golden ticket to a healthy life by gwen ashley walters
Bon Appetit magazine published a recipe for kale “chips” in 2009 from noted chef, author and food activist Dan Barber, co-owner of Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, New York. It became the tipping point for an improbable star: a scruffy green leaf that has been cultivated for thousands of years, but up until the mid-aughts, spent life as a curly bed lining for salad bars in ordinary chain restaurants. Barber’s recipe hurled kale— and its many varieties—into the collective consciousness of health-seeking foodies. By the following year, kale was the new “it” food, topping trend lists and making appearances on chic restaurant menus across the country. Suddenly, kale was cool. “Kale’s trendiness was kind of forced on all of us,” said chef Laura Apshaga of NourishMe, a health food and supplement store in Ketchum. “But I’ve eaten it and cooked with it all my life.” The most popular grab-and-go item at NourishMe? A vegan kale Caesar salad. The rising tide of kale’s boat has been a boon for other leafy greens as Americans look for ways to add more plants to their diet. Health experts tout the antioxidant properties and abundance of other phytonutrients in greens. Most greens are loaded with vitamins A and C and contain other essential vitamins, including K, E and several B vitamins. Greens are low in calories and rich in fiber. Some greens are high in calcium and other minerals, such as iron and manganese, the latter helpful in bone development and strength. Greens are also credited with helping regulate
blood sugar. Bonus? Among “superfoods”— technically a marketing term coined to highlight the health benefits of nutrient dense foods—greens are abundant, available yearround and inexpensive, especially compared to other superfoods such as blueberries, salmon and walnuts. Susan Sampson, author of “The Complete Leafy Greens Cookbook,” groups greens into four user-friendly categories, which are far easier to remember than the scientific species names. Her easy-to-recall categories are: salad greens; cabbages; leaves and vines; and “wild” greens. Salad greens include the usual suspects of romaine, green and red leaf, butter lettuce, and arugula, but also include more exotic greens such as mâche, sometimes referred to as lamb’s tongue because of its shape and soft texture; mizuna, a spicy, tender Asian green with pointy edges; and frisée, the frilly bitter green that is the basis of the French classic, Salade Lyonnaise. Cabbages are also leafy greens, and beyond common green and red cabbages, this category includes the now ubiquitous kale, collard greens, and even Brussels sprouts. And then there are other leafy greens referred to as foliage—think chard, beet greens, spinach, pea shoots, and turnip greens. The final category, wild greens, includes dandelion greens, purslane, ramps and sorrel. Peppery watercress is considered wild even though the cress found in most grocery stores is carefully cultivated, as are other greens in this “wild” category. Valley residents can find fresh greens yearround in grocery stores, including some of the FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 131
food&drink // amazing greens
more obscure greens, and during summer and early fall, farmers’ markets in Ketchum and Hailey offer a handful of greens, from lettuces to pea shoots to kale and spinach. Carol Murphy of Shooting Star Farms in Hailey focuses almost entirely on leafy greens. “My [late] husband Dan and I wanted to offer a straight-up sweet, tender lettuce mix,” Murphy said. Shooting Star Farms market booth sports bags of colorful lettuces, dark kale, spinach and sometimes arugula and peashoots, depending on the week. “Greens love cool weather, so we will have fresh greens when other farmers down-Valley don’t.” Shooting Star Farms also supplies greens to NourishMe and GLOW Live Food Café in Ketchum. “In the summer and fall, we try to support the local farmers here,” said Sara JarolimekSummers, manager of GLOW. “We get greens from Springs of Life in Buhl, Shooting Star Farms and from other farms in Idaho’s Bounty [Cooperative].” GLOW incorporates greens into salads and wraps, including using the broad leaves of collard greens in place of a tortilla wrap for their popular Sun Valley wrap filled with hummus, quinoa and mixed greens. “We use kale and dried greens in the form of a powder in our power smoothie and of course we have a green juice full of fresh greens.” Chef Apshaga said to think out of the box 132 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
when it comes to using greens in the kitchen. “You can substitute collard greens for cabbage in slaw,” she said. “They’re great shredded as a taco topping, or tossed in a stir-fry,” she said. “Really, anything you make in the kitchen can incorporate greens.” For those not familiar with cooking and eating greens, Asphaga recommends experimenting with several varieties, adding them in small amounts to see how you like them. She adds raw and lightly cooked greens to grain salads. “I’m personally not a bitter-green fan,” she said, but there are ways to balance bitter greens with something sweet, like dried fruit, or something neutral and creamy, such as cooked beans, or even with a splash of vinegar. No one is saying greens are the single magic bullet or that eating greens will suddenly reveal the elusive fountain of youth, but there is a reason moms nag their children about eating their spinach. Scientific data overwhelmingly points to health benefits. Consuming leafy greens provides a significant source of daily vitamins and minerals in comparatively fewer calories. Couple that with availability and affordability, and there is no reason not to eat more greens. With so many options to choose from, there is something for everyone, from sweet, tender leaves to bold, peppery—even pleasantly bitter—bites. Go on. Eat your greens.
Wake up and Live
GREENS 101
Cookbook author Susan Sampson explored 67 leafy greens in “The Complete Leafy Greens Cookbook,” and shares 250 recipes. Here are some selected tips about some of the greens she covered. ESCAROLE (salad greens) Other names: Batavia, Batavian endive, broad chicory Taste: succulent, nutty, astringent and briny, with a slightly bitter finish Nutrition: Vitamins A, C, E and K, calcium, copper, folate, iron, and more Cooking: Careful not to overcook it. Braised escarole is tender in 5 minutes, blanched and sautéed escarole in less than 10 minutes. COLLARDS (cabbage) Taste: when raw, collards are lemony and astringent with a slightly bitter finish. When cooked, they taste deeply nutty and slightly smoky with a faint lemony finish Nutrition: Vitamins A, B6, C, E and K, calcium, folate, iron, magnesium, and more. Particularly high in fiber. TURNIP GREENS (leaves and vines) Taste: pungent and bitter, like a cross between rapini and radish. They are milder when cooked. Nutrition: Vitamins A B6, E and K, calcium, copper, folate, iron and more. Particularly high in fiber and rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, as well as strongly anti-inflammatory. Cooking: rarely eaten raw. Simmer greens in water or stock until tender enough to cut with a fork. Don’t throw away the cooking liquid. Contains nutrients. Traditionally tossed with vinegar after cooking. WATERCRESS (wild greens) Taste: mustardy, sharp and astringent. Nutrition: Vitamins A, B6, C, E and K, calcium, copper, folate, magnesium and more. Buying: cress is a supermarket staple. Sold in small bunches. Even though it is in the wild greens category, it is farmed. Foraging for watercress is not recommended. Cooking: all parts are edible. Can add raw to salads or stir-fry. Cooks in less than 5 minutes. FALL 2016 | sunvalleymag.com 133
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food&drink // sustainable salmon
GETTING WILD AND SUSTAINABLE Salmon fishing the Bristol Bay way “It’s the eighth wonder of the world, the largest sustainable sockeye salmon fishery on the planet. No hatcheries, all-natural spawning. It’s pretty amazing,” smiled Matt Luck, describing Bristol Bay, Alaska. The waters of Bristol Bay lure thousands of commercial and sport fishermen from all over the world every summer. Luck has been taken with its mystique since he first found himself pulling in burgeoning nets in the bay over four decades ago. With ties to five major river systems and millions of square miles of towering wilderness, Bristol Bay is one of the most pristine cold-water fish habitats in the world. Luck’s 6-foot frame exudes a presence of both great strength and immense compassion. His bright eyes and genuine smile have long understood the importance and connectivity of the greater system of his livelihood as a fisherman. Since he began work on a fishing boat when he was 18, Luck has been engaged and involved with advocacy groups, committees, panels and boards related to resource management, advocacy and commercial fishing issues. A culmination of a lifetime of experience, Luck founded Pride of Bristol Bay, a company that creates a link “from our nets to your table,” wherein customers can buy wildcaught salmon directly. Wild salmon stands out in nutritional value, packed with vitamin B-12, Omega-3 fatty acids, and protein, and 134 sunvalleymag.com | FALL 2016
Pride of Bristol Bay salmon is stand-out in its taste and freshness among local customers and restaurateurs, such as Scott Mason of the Ketchum Grill. The salmon of Bristol Bay are acclaimed to be some of the “purest of all ocean fish,” testing free of contaminants that plague many seafood sources. Luck implores customers to know where their food comes from. His efforts to connect customers directly to the wild salmon catches provides an alternative to farm salmon. Although conditions do vary, farm salmon are generally raised in small pens treated with antibiotics and pesticides to limit disease-spread inherent in living in confined spaces. But for Luck, there’s more to it than that. “About two years ago, Matt told me about Pride of Bristol Bay, and how he was really committed to giving back to the resource that he depends on as a fisherman,” said Nelli Williams, Alaska program deputy director of Trout Unlimited, a national organization that joins respected scientists, policy experts and lawyers to conserve, protect and restore North America’s cold-water fisheries and their watersheds. “Matt’s selling very traceable, high-quality salmon to consumers and buyers clubs all over the country,” Williams added. “He proposed a partnership to give some proceeds back to us. It’s certainly incredibly admirable that a fisherman really understands the value of
habitat and environment.” When his children reached school age, Luck and his wife, Roni, decided to move the family from year-round living in the isolated town of Cordova, Alaska, to the Wood River Valley because it gave them “the opportunities to do the things we all love here: the skiing, the hiking, the everything,” Luck said. Perhaps there was also a draw to a state historically renowned for flourishing salmon runs. In contrast to the throngs of salmon in Bristol Bay this year, populations of Idaho salmon have severely declined and, in some headwaters, no longer exist. Idaho salmon swim higher and farther than any other salmon on the planet. Sockeye hatch in lakes, while Chinook and steelhead salmon hatch in rivers. After hatching, each species spends a season in their respective lake and river systems to grow. Once they reach a couple of inches in length, the smolt set off to embark on the journey to the ocean. They swim facing upstream the entire way, some over 1,000 miles. After one to four years in the ocean, Idaho salmon return to the mouth of the Columbia River and navigate back to the very place they were born to spawn and die, at least in theory. There are eight major dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. “When you hear about legends of rivers so thick with salmon you could walk across their backs, it’s cliché, but it’s a cliché because
photos : courtesy matt luck
by kira tenney
Opposite page from left: The crew clowns around on deck; Matt Luck. Above: Luck and crew heading out of Bristol Bay; fresh-caught salmon.
it was real,” noted Greg Stahl of Idaho Rivers United, an advocacy, conservation and preservation organization. He continued, “There’s a reason for the names ‘Redfish Lake’ and ‘Salmon River.’” When Lewis and Clark first set eyes on the Salmon River in Idaho over 200 years ago, 10 to 15 million wild salmon started their migration back up the Columbia River and 4 million jam-packed the Snake River watershed. Now, fewer than 60,000 wild salmon make it up the Columbia to the Snake River each year. “It is pretty clear dams are a problem,” said Stahl. “Dams kill salmon in a variety of ways. They raise the water temperature, and fish can be directly flushed through or over a spillway.” Not only do salmon runs hold immense spiritual value to native cultures that traditionally fished them for sustenance, they hold large economic value. In Bristol Bay
alone, fishing is a $1.5 billion industry, and in Idaho, it is reported that if the salmon runs were restored, $544 million would flood the state through direct and indirect spending. In a world of compromised fisheries, the ability to eat consciously from a healthy and sustainable salmon source is a rarity. Humbled by the scene of his team getting ready to head back out to the open waters, Luck said, “To be a part of harvesting fish, to … provide people with access to such a nutritional food source that’s traceable, to be able to do that year after year in a responsible manner—Bristol Bay is a sustainable model that you don’t find that often—to tell the story and share every summer with the truly genuine people that live and migrate here every year, and this year I get to fish with my son, I couldn’t feel luckier.”
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—FROM "FAT BOTTOMED GIRL," WRITTEN BY BRIAN MAY, GUITARIST AND SONGWRITER FOR QUEEN
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