Founded ten years ago by disgruntled freeride competitors from Chamonix, Camille Jaccoux and Bruno Compagnet, Black Crows is making a push to expand its toehold in the American market. The two friends demoed every attempt at a Big Mountain ski then extant, culling ideas that would eventually be embodied in the Corvus, a big (194cm) fat ski that expressed the wide-open spirit of the Mont Blanc massif.
As the center of the international freeride movement, Chamonix was ready for a ski like the Corvus, and soon its distinctive pink and black chevron pattern was popping up all around the Alps. Black Crows fortunes spiked upwards about five years ago when they landed the big-ski shaper Julien Regnier Lafforgue, the mind behind the Armada JJ. Lafforgue’s first model for Black Crows, the Nocta, was an instant hit, the first in a series of ultra-wide twin-tips (“double beak” in Black Crow lingo) made for the big mountain skier. A follow-up to the Nocta, the Atris, is a Realskiers Recommended model for 2017, so we can confirm there’s some real ingenuity in Lafforgue’s juju.
Being French to the core, Black Crows isn’t just a ski company, or even a lifestyle brand; it’s first a philosophy – one that combines design, pleasure, freedom and a toes-in-the-snow passion for skiing – and second, it’s an expression of community, a vehicle for bringing the spirit of mountain life to like-minded souls everywhere.
The foundation of any community lies in family, so Black Crows now makes skis that can be enjoyed by any family member. Lafforgue’s latest creations, the Camox and this year’s sensation, the Orb, are All-Mountain skis accessible to a very broad range of skiers, from highly skilled to considerably less so.
In its ten years of existence, Black Crows has never lost sight of its origins – the Corvus and the Black Crows distinctive chevrons are still part of the line – yet it has gradually shifted its design focus to embrace all skiers who fit into the fabric of mountain life.
The 2017 Season
Black Crows released 6 new birds for 2017, 3 of which are in the “freebird” family of touring/mountaineering skis and ergo outside our orbit. The biggest news among alpine skis – literally – is the 122mm Nocta 2, a double-beak (twin-tip) banana and the first Black Crow to sport a reverse-camber baseline. The Nocta 2 should be able to turn on a centime despite its obese belt size. The Captis and Captis Birdie (Black Crows’ designation for a women’s ski) are double-rockered twins with camber underfoot. Trimmed to a 90mm waist, the Captis and crew are easily tipped on edge, giving them a better attitude about skiing on-piste.
The star of the newbies, in our humble opinion, is the Orb, a “single beak” model with front rocker, a trifle of tail elevation and most importantly, Titanal laminates in its lay-up. Its 91mm waist places the Orb in the hotly competitive All-Mountain East genre, where major manufacturers play every trump card in their hands. The Orb emerged shining brightly, second in our Finesse rankings and a Silver Skier Selection. Overall, Black Crows enjoyed a most auspicious debut for M. Jaccoux and his Chamonix crew. Bravo et bienvenue!