2023 Black Crows Captis Birdie

Keeping things fun and playful, Black Crows continues to provide intermediate to advanced female skiers another versatile, all-mountain ski from the Birdie line. The Captis is one of the more approachable choices when it comes to lightweight, middle of the road waist width skis for women looking to ski anything from bumps to trees. Focusing on a simple construction, the poplar wood core and fiberglass laminate are the perfect combination for a versatile, maneuverable ski. While we see this construction in a lot of skis, the Captis stands out from the rest thanks to its shape and profile. Geared towards freeride performance, you get a twin tip shape with moderate taper in the shovel, allowing for optimal flotation for soft snow and a playful personality across a range of conditions and terrain. One of the attributes that speaks to the Captis’ performance is the impressive rebound achievable through each turn. Holding a strong edge all the way through the arc of the turn, the ski not only handles chatter but responds immediately, providing complete control and nimble maneuverability. A true, all-mountain dominator for female shredders, this lightweight freeride ski is a whole lot of fun.

Alli Ruschp skied on the 166 and that length was great and true to size for her. Based on all 4’s and 5’s on her scoresheet, we get the sense that she is a fan of the Captis Birdie. Her top scores fell into the categories of quickness/maneuverability, playfulness, and forgiveness, which given the lightweight nature on top of the freeride shape and profile, it’s no wonder she was impressed by its agility and responsiveness. For a strong skier like Alli, it goes to show that a ski can be on the lighter end of the spectrum but still handle power. She expressed “Not only do I love the topsheet colors (so pretty!), I was impressed with the carving ability of this ski. Its the price point ski, but they added something to it this year that made it a little stiffer in the tips and tails, which improved the carving from edge to edge. It was easy to get into the turn and stable throughout the end of the turn. Not as playful as the mox with the camber and tail rocker, but its going to appeal to a wider range of skier abilities. I would not hesitate putting a intermediate through an advanced skier on the Captis Birdie, both abilities will get what they need from this ski!” A great piece of feedback from Alli here, noting her lack of hesitation to put a wide range of skiers on the Captis Birdie!

Louis Lintilhac also skied on the 166 but found they skied a little long for her. That said, her only score that was not a 4 or 5 was in the flotation category, which can definitely be affected by the length, especially if it doesn’t feel appropriate for you. In quickness/maneuverability and torsional stiffness, she awarded 5’s, which sums up the Captis well in that the ski is easy to control yet can provide you with a solid foundation. Louis’ take was “This ski eats groomers for breakfast. Super stable and confident at speed. Easy to move edge to edge and liked all turn lengths. The long effective edge and weight might make it tricky in tighter spaces but for hot laps on the corduroy, this is a winner.” To represent a shorter length, Catherine Ferguson skied the 164 and thought that it felt right, though it skied a little short to size. In all categories except for one, she scored 4’s across the board, which shows the all-around performance covers all bases. She did score a 3 in quickness/maneuverability which is where our previous two testers scored the highest. This is always interesting to analyze and right away, it seems fitting due to her hesitation with the length. Had she been on a longer size, perhaps she would have felt more control and the ability to maneuver from edge to edge.

The Black Crows Captis Birder is a lightweight, fun to play around on ski with a lot of capabilities. For intermediate to advanced lady shredders looking for an approachable ski that can be nimble upon bumps or trees but sturdy picking up speed on groomers, this is the perfect all mountain weapon.