Outdoor event specialists, Hillside Outside, will be the new organisers of the SIGB Snow Test. The Hillside team will replace long running organisers, Rare Management, who will step down after the 2024 test in January. The team from Hillside will join Mike Jardine at the upcoming January test in La Clusaz for a “live transfer” of responsibilities. Neil Dalgliesh and Amber Winnubst will help with the running of the test and learn how it all works in practice.
Mike says, "We've known Neil and the Hillside team for many years and used them for our design work since 2002. They've also developed an impressive portfolio of events where they've honed the skills and expertise that will be invaluable for taking the SIGB Test forward. We'll be working together in 2024 and then from 2025 onwards they will be running the show. I’m looking forward to another great Test and showing Hillside the ropes."
Hillside Outside organise many different events throughout the year but specialise in cycling and outdoors events. As you might expect, their team are all outdoor-loving types themselves. They have created award-winning events like the Tweed Love Bike Festival, Tour O The Borders, and the Tweed Valley Tunnel Trail Run, and have also produced commissioned events for other organisations such as the Enduro World Series and the Bosch eMTB Challenge.
Dave Sawyer-Parker, SIGB President, says, “Hillside have just the right mix of experience with similar events, and an existing relationship with Rare, which should ensure a smooth transition. They are an established company with a great team to share the workload and we’re confident that they will continue to deliver an event that meets our needs.”
We caught up with Neil ahead of the kick-off to this winter season to find out what his team will bring to this much-loved week of the year.
SIGB: Why did you want to take the SIGB Snow Test on?
Neil Dalgleish: Skiing and the mountains have been a huge part of my life and the Snow Test opportunity seemed like a perfect fit. We did a public-facing ski test at Glencoe as part of The Mighty Coe festival (a ski and snowboard festival we created in 2022) and we’ve been running big MTB test and demo events for quite a few years now, so we were very keen to throw our hats in the ring.
SIGB: What are you most excited about?
Neil Dalgleish: All of it! Working with all the best new kit, a season ahead of the public, seems like a real privilege. The most enjoyable stuff is always about people though – we’ve met a few of the characters and brands involved in this and they seem like a really nice bunch. It’ll be great to get to know everyone and hopefully play a positive part in the UK snowsports scene. We’re proud to be a part of it now and hope we can do a good job with the test – Mike and Lesley’s are tough boots to fill but it should be an enjoyable challenge.
SIGB: What do you think Hillside will bring to the test?
Neil Dalgleish: Our aim – at all our events – is to make the experience as enjoyable and well-produced as possible, but it seems like the Snow Test is already doing that very well. So, we’ll aim to continue that as the priority and with quite a few years’ event experience behind us we believe we have the experience and skillset we need for the job. At Hillside we have two small sister companies – Hillside Outside, which is all about event delivery, and Hillside Agency, a design and comms business, so I hope we can pull on a wide range of resources to make the test as good as possible. We always try and improve everything we do so if there’s things that people agree can make the event better, we’ll do our best to deliver it.
SIGB: Do you have any plans for the SIGB snow test in the future?
Neil Dalgleish: It’s way too soon to say! At this point we just need to learn how it all works, and then we can start to identify if any changes would be good. Of course, it would be nice to bring in our own flavour in due course, and we already have some ideas around that, but it’s a familiarity and learning process first of all.
SIGB: What are you looking forward to in La Clusaz this year?
Neil Dalgleish: A week in a beautiful mountain location, immersed in snowsport and new kit, meeting new people with shared interests, learning a new event set-up… There’s a fair bit to look forward to! And if there’s time, there’s a few pairs of skis we’re keen to try... Fingers crossed for good snow.