Sidecut was originally born in an advanced precision machine shop in Waterloo, Ontario. Founder Chris Hillier, the son of an engineer, approached his father with an idea to design some tools for ski maintenance. Hillier spent the summer nights of 1992 manufacturing parts on his family’s CNC machines. Sidecut was founded.
Shortly after, Chris moved to Invermere, BC to begin the formative years of a renowned 25-year coaching career, during which he also started selling his new tools to ski clubs and coaches across Western Canada. Sidecut was born.
In 1995, Sidecut moved to the ski mecca of Whistler, BC. Year after year, Sidecut expanded its product range and became a well-known name among a niche group of competitive skiers in the West. It did not take long before the name Sidecut became synonymous with the highest-quality ski tuning tools.
Over the next 20 years, Chris was passionately dedicated to the athletes and coaches he trained and educated. At the same time, he embarked on a mission to refine and cultivate his range of tuning products. Chris spent two decades coaching elite athletes in Europe, Scandinavia, and the Southern Hemisphere. During this time, Chris learned from some of the best and catalogued his ideas.
Fast forward to 2013—Hillier took a break from the whirlwind of a global travel lifestyle covering 100,000+ miles per year to return to his roots in Whistler and focus solely on his company. As a coaching educator, it made sense for him not only to produce the best tuning tools in the industry, but also to teach people how to use them. During this period, Sidecut’s tuning workshops were born. Hillier began visiting local ski clubs. Through word-of-mouth recommendations, news of his workshops spread quickly, and he soon offered workshops as far east as Newfoundland. “Old school marketing,” he called it.
Sidecut workshops have spread throughout Canada’s skiing community and are expanding globally. Hillier has recently assembled a smart team of experts who have introduced Sidecut as a new brand on a global scale. The founder’s original vision—to design high-quality tuning tools and provide the knowledge snow sports enthusiasts need to reach their maximum potential—remains intact.
