The now legendary Chamonix based free ski brand Black Crows are one of the most iconic ski manufacturers of all time.
Their eye catching graphics and revolutionary ski shapings have been an instrumental part of redefining free skiing to what it has become today.
Founded in 2006 by Camille Jaccoux and Bruno Compagnet, both Pro Freeskiers, Black Crows have always strived to combine design beauty with functionality and efficiency.
They began with Freeride beasts like the Corvus and they still make many fantastic freeride skis but their current range has expanded to feature everything from piste chargers to super light ski alpinism skis.
We love the Black Crows Freeride and all mountain skis, but being a ski touring and backcountry specialist, it’s only natural that the excellent, lightened up Black Crows Freebird skis have become the most important for us. The rise in people wanting to tour to find the best snow and lines has driven Black Crows to add to their lightweight ski touring skis over the years.
The Freebird skis are usually born from one of Black Crows full weight all mountain or freeride skis, sharing similar width and shaping. However the use of lighter woods, such as Paulownia, in the core and by reducing the size of the metal reinforcement on the top sheet to the minimum required to get a solid fix with a tech binding, the freebird skis are significantly lighter than their full fat siblings.
We stock the core range of Black crows Freebird skis from the Orb Freebird through to the Corvus Freebird with all the skis inbetween and while it can be tricky to know which one to go for the range makes perfect sense once you have skied them!
The Black Crows Orb Freebird is the 90mm wide lightweight version of the Orb. These one piece fluorescent yellow skis have become a reference touring ski and are popular for good reason. The 90mm waist and sidewall construction gives excellent edge hold, grip and durability. They have a progressive tip rocker allowing them to be agile and have great skiability even in challenging snow conditions. the modern Orb Freebird is much more forgiving than the early versions but hasn’t lost the ability to perform when pushed hard. The combination of excellent grip and lightweight construction makes them a superb ski for firmer conditions like ski touring in Scotland or classic spring alpine hut to hut tours but at 90mm an with the tip rocker they still ski very well in softer and deeper snow too!
The Next width up is the awesome 95mm wide Black crows Camox Freebird. These are probably our all time best selling ski and for good reason! They are amazingly versatile and unlike some mid 90s skis that are neither one thing or another, the Camox Freebird really can do it all. Designed to be fun, easy and playful to ski in the full spectrum of conditions these bright red ski icons can still be pushed hard and we love everything from tearing up the side country to long days of uphill on them. With a little more float and a forgiving flex they excel in softer snow but are also very capable on icy skin tracks and early morning spring starts.
The next width up is the green ones, the Navis Freebird at 102mm. The new Navis Freebird has had some upgrades to increase is hard pack performance but with the 100mm plus waist it is still true that the Navis Freebird is most at home hunting out powder bowls well away from the resort. Once again the Navis is a friendly ski which helps you rather than hinders in difficult snow conditions and they are very playful and nimble for a 102mm ski. If your main drive for ski touring is for finding the stashes of fresh then the Black Crows Navis Freebird makes an excellent choice.
Last but not least the awesome and super striking big pink Black Crows Corvus freebird. These 107mm wide beasts are truly awesome to ski and ski unbelievably well in a whole range of snow types. Sure they excel in powder and soft snow but the way they deal with crud, chop and even piste is the big shock. At 107mm wide they are inevitably heavier than the narrower skis in the range at 3.65KG/Pair and they can take more work to push uphill or hold an edge while teetering on a tricky kick turn, but if you’re a strong skier that likes hard skiing and wider skis the Corvus Freebird can make an excellent ski touring tool.
The Black Crows Freebird series of touring skis combine ski touring functionality with freeride and all mountain ski performance in the descent. Their not too light but still light enough designs have become hugely popular for good reason, add to this the bomb proof construction and super durability, and it is not difficult to see why Black Crows freebird skis are one of the bench mark brands out there!
