Ketchum native Wes Walsworth no longer plays music (other than as a hobby), but he may be best known to many in the Sun Valley area—and beyond—as a member of punk/bluegrass band the Scotch Greens, which formed in Sun Valley in 1998 before relocating to San Diego. It was while living in San Diego that Wes began to tap into some of his family’s woodworking roots; his father was a builder, and his grandfather was a woodworker. Wes grew up with a woodworking shop at his house and eventually learned finish carpentry and worked for his father. In San Diego he started working for Taylor Guitars and become a luthier, someone who builds or repairs string instruments. After coming back to the Wood River Valley on and off for many years, Wes traveled to Australia, where his professional woodworking career would begin. Wes Walsworth was living on a winery, which had lots of discarded wine barrels that were going to waste. He started taking them apart and using his woodworking skills to create furniture—the rest, as they say, is history. More than a decade later, Wes has created a name for himself as a renowned furniture designer/builder, with designs sold …
What We’re Made Of: DECKED
Local company DECKED has created a product that appeals to many of the kinds of people who call Ketchum home: outdoors people, tradesmen/contractors, and just about anyone who drives a truck. It was while innovating a way to organize a truck bed that DECKED founders, Jake Peters and Lance Meller, came up with the idea for DECKED’s drawer system, tapping into the market of truck accessories that few had or have since. In its almost ten years as a company, DECKED has grown from a small-footprint, servicing mom and pop accessory stores, to a multi-national company available directly from manufacturers like Ford and Chevrolet distributed into 27 countries on six continents. The Origin Story Like the origin of so many products, DECKED’s drawer system was the result of necessity. Ketchum local Lance Meller was a snowboard rep and pickup truck owner who built his own plywood drawer system for the bed of his truck, which allowed him to sleep in it while on the road while also storing his snowboard samples. After getting a new truck, Meller realized he would have to build another system from scratch, with no real roadmap for doing so. He partnered with DECKED founder, Jake …
24 Hours with a Local: Trailhead Bicycles Owners Kyle Wies and Andy Solomon
After several years of working for Fitzgerald’s Bicycles in Victor, Jackson, and Idaho Falls, friends and business owners Kyle Wies and Andy Solomon—and Andy’s wife, Erin—decided to open their own bike shop in Hailey after seeing a hole in the market for a year-round bike shop. The two met at Fitzgerald’s in 2015 when Andy bought a fat bike from Kyle—two years later, Andy was working there too. They opened Trailhead Bicycles in April 2022 and have been busy ever since. Andy and Kyle live fairly opposite lives: Andy and Erin are parents to their 6-year-old daughter, Finley, and shop dog 11-year-old Elliott (if you’ve been in the shop, you’ve likely seen this huge, loveable guy) who all live in Woodside. When not on the bike, Andy and the family can be found outdoors doing it all—lake days, paddle boarding, hiking, and biking, of course. Kyle lives by himself in Ketchum, commuting daily to Hailey by biking on the bike path or reading on the bus. Kyle’s a big runner and reader when he’s not biking, and the two friends also like to get together to watch soccer. Assuming the trails are dry and ready for biking (a bit of …
24hrs with a Local: Sawtooth Avalanche Center’s Annie DeAngelo, April
Since making Sun Valley her home ten years, Annie DeAngelo has embraced all of the professional, recreational, and social aspects the area has to offer. As Education Coordinator for Friends of the Sawtooth Avalanche Center, Annie wears many hats, coming up with events and ways to reach new people, putting on the education programs the org has been running for years, and collaborating with other local organizations. Prior to working with Friends of the Sawtooth Avalanche Center, Annie DeAngelo taught middle school math and science for the Community School for many years. She’s also been a NOLS instructor, taught ski school, interned with ICL, and is unofficially the Grumpy’s Social Director. Her and her partner, ski patroller and Sawtooth Mountain Guide Toria, live in west Ketchum with their pit bull-chihuahua-poodle mix Xander. When not working, Annie is a woman of “endless” hobbies, as she describes it, but her biggest are whitewater SUPing, cooking, gardening, hunting, mountain biking, skiing, and playing in band Miscellany 7 (formerly Miscellany 5, but they’ve since acquired two more members). While most days are ideal days in Sun Valley for Annie DeAngelo, she described her perfect one here, taking a few liberties because, after all, this …
24hrs with a Local: Hockey player Mike (Taco) Curry, March
If you’ve seen a Sun Valley Suns hockey game in the last ten years, then you already know Mike Curry, better known as “Taco” to those in the know. The Alaska native moved to Ketchum about ten years ago and has been playing defense for the Suns ever since. When he’s not on the ice, Mike works from his home in Warm Springs doing headhunting for Walmart Global Tech. In the winter, he enjoys snowboarding and snowmobiling (in addition to hockey, of course) and in the summer spends lots of time on the lake water skiing and doing a bit of fishing. We caught up with Mike to see what his perfect March day in Sun Valley entails. How does your morning start? Mike: I’d start out with breakfast at either the Kneadery or something quick at Wrapcity. At the Kneadery I like the cowboy benedict—it’s rock solid. At Wrapcity I get the Mayday wrap. What’s after breakfast? Mike: I’d hit the mountain for a couple runs, nothing too crazy. I’m a snowboarder, so I try to stay off steep pitches so I can cruise; usually I’ll do Broadway top to bottom for my first run of the day. …
24hrs with a Local: Riley Berman, February
A born and raised local, Riley Berman wears many hats professionally in the Wood River Valley where he is manager of the Hailey ski hill Rotarun, a fishing guide for Silvercreek Outfitters in the summer, and the co-founder of small outerwear company Steel Zips. He and his wife Katelyn live south in the Bellevue triangle with a menagerie of animals, including dogs, cats, mini donkeys, horses, pigs, goats, and chickens. Now in his fourth year as manager of Rotarun, Riley Berman enjoys skiing on his off days, whether in the backcountry, on Baldy, or at Rotarun. How does your ideal morning start? Riley: For me, February is definitely work time and I like my job, so my ideal day would probably be my regular day. Regardless, I get up early at about five. Then I spend a few hours on my company Steely Zips, making sure orders and our website are up to date. We’re trying to do new marketing and branding for a new piece we’re going to launch in the spring. I’ll spend some time with my dogs, especially my corgi, Midge. I don’t do breakfast or coffee—not really a coffee guy. Then what is mid-morning like? Riley: …
Sun Valley’s Next Generation of Skiers and Boarders
It would be hard for the town of Sun Valley, Idaho, not to be mentioned when talking about professional and Olympic skiers and snowboarders; the town is practically synonymous with greatness. With Bald Mountain as their training ground, ski greats from Picabo Street to Gretchen Fraser back in the day to more recent pros like McKenna Peterson, Wing Tai Barrymore, Lexi DuPont, Banks Gilberti, Colin Collins, Karl Fostvedt, Lucy Sackbauer have added to the legacy of the place. And snowboarders too—did you know there’s never been a U.S. Olympic snowboard team without a member from Sun Valley? Repping the boarders are Olympians Chase Josey, Kaitlyn Farrington, Graham Watanabe and a whole lot of other pros and amazing riders. The time has come for some of those same skiers and boarders to pass the torch to the next generation, which promises to bring it just as hard, race just as fast, jump just as high, and continue to put Sun Valley on the map for winter athletes. The Rafford’s “For me, skiing on Bald Mountain was a privilege that took me years to appreciate.” Toby Rafford Starting out the list of the new generation are brother and sister duo Addison (Addie) and Toby Rafford, both of whom are …
24hrs with a Local: Board Bin’s David Kelso, January
If you’ve stepped foot in the Board Bin in Ketchum in any of the 34 years its been open, chances are good that you’ve seen long-time employee and now co-owner and manager David Kelso (though, to be fair, he didn’t start working there until 1993). One of the founding fathers of board culture in Ketchum alongside original Board Bin owner Jim Slanetz, Dave took over the shop with local Quinn Baser in the fall of 2018. A skateboard afficianado first and snowboarder second, Dave grew up in Idaho Falls and moved to Ketchum in 1991. He’s been in the Valley ever since and lives with his wife, Erin, and 12-year-old son, JackHenry, out Warm Springs with their dog. When not on a board of some kind, Dave gets into fly tying and fishing, hiking, and camping. How does your ideal morning start? Dave: I make coffee at home and then walk our dog Josie, a Border Collie/Aussie Shephard/Whippet rescue from Mountain Humane. I take the dog to the river and stand in the river meditating for a few minutes while she runs around. I always do the New York Times crossword puzzle and Wordle and various other games. Then I …
Idaho Winter Vacation
An Idaho winter ski vacation is certainly a bucket list item for anyone. Names like “Aspen” or “Vail” may be more familiar to some, but Idaho’s ski resorts are known for tons of powder, minimal lift lines, and plenty of small-town charm. There are many small ski hills across the state, but the four listed below are the heavy hitters in terms of the best spots to visit for your winter vacay. Whether you’ve visited Idaho before and are looking to try out a different resort or it’s your first visit, these are the must-visit Idaho winter destinations. Bogus Basin As Boise’s ski resort, Bogus Basin is certainly the easiest resort to reach with the most options for places to stay and other, near-by activities. Founded in 1942, Bogus Basin is an accessible, family-friendly resort which receives between 200 and 250 inches of snow each season. At just 16 miles from downtown Boise, you can wake up and be on the slopes within the hour, ready to experience all Bogus Basin’s 2,600 acres of terrain has to offer. The 1,800-vertical-foot mountain is open for year-round recreation, but for the winter you’ll be enticed by downhill skiing as well as 37km …
24hrs with a Local: Luis Alberto Lecanda, December
Luis Alberto Lecanda moved to Sun Valley in 2019 to pursue Nordic skiing full-time with hopes to qualify for the 2022 Olympic XC ski team for Mexico. The catch? He was a complete neophyte in the sport, coming from a career as an engineer in Silicon Valley.