2023 Black Crows Corvus

For straight-up freeride performance, check out the Black Crows Corvus. With a modern and progressive character and personality, the Corvus blends beefy construction with a pretty flat profile that allows it to plow through and over a huge variety of snow conditions and terrain. Built with a full poplar wood ore and fiberglass laminates, the skis also get a double titanal plate that spans the mid-zone of the ski. In the 183.4-cm length, the skis generate a 21-meter turn radius and tip the scales at around 2000 grams per ski. From a profile perspective, the skis have rocker in the shovel, but then appear quite flat from there through the tail. It’s an interesting profile to be sure—one that makes it so the ski tracks extremely well through choppy snow. While the tail isn’t hooky as a result of the flatter shape, it’s certainly strong, and very apparent when you’re going from one turn to the next. Overall, these skis are quite stiff and strong, mixing all-mountain performance with freeride flotation. At 107 mm underfoot, it’s got some surface area to it, making it a great option for a snow day ski, while there are likely better choices for one-ski quivers out there.

Dave Hatoff skied the 183 and noted it was just right for him. He gave the ski 5’s out of 5 for stability and flotation, and 4’s for overall impression and versatility. 3’s lined the rest of his card for torsional stiffness, edge hold, forgiveness, playfulness, quickness, and maneuverability. Dave notes that the Corvus certainly has a “burly build. It’s stiff and powerful. You need to be on this ski to make it perform. It’s a great floater, and does not have a speed limit through crud and chopped snow. Very stable and eager to go fast.” We’ve also noticed that while the Corvus doesn’t really have a speed limit, it kind of has a speed minimum, so it’s important that the skis are on the feet of someone who doesn’t mind a bit of velocity underfoot.

Also on the 183, Marcus Shakun called it “just right” and scored it 5’s out of 5 for stability and flotation. His 4’s went for overall impression, torsional stiffness, and edge hold. Versatility and forgiveness got 3’s while playfulness, quickness, and maneuverability were all in the 2-range. Marcus calls it “Quite the plank, but in the deep corn, it ate up plenty. Big all-mountain ski for the skier that feels like they never have enough ski. Expert skiers. Long radius turn once you get it up on edge! It takes a bit of speed to get it up there. Not a versatile ski if it has a weakness or for anything other than an expert looking to charge. Super stable at high speed and holds a good edge.” This is another tester noting the speed requirement for the ski, and it all comes down to the Corvus and its rugged construction.

The shape and profile have a lot to do with it as well, as that flat tail produces an extremely long effective edge that is not very excited to release or get from one turn to the next. Black Crows really looks to the different side of skiing for inspiration for their skis, and the Corvus is one of the prime examples of this philosophy.