Black Crows Atris- anyone skied it?

**pmollenkof** · 12-24-2014, 02:02 PM

I've been looking at the Black Crows Atris ski and have been looking for any reviews/info online (that's not in French.) I know they were selected in the Powder gear guide, but that's about all I can find. Anyone have experience on this ski or on Black Crows in general?

Thanks!

**blur** · 12-24-2014, 02:40 PM

I have 5 days on 2015 corvus 183 with dukes. These are stiff skis that require you to drive them hard. Push them, get your turn going early and keep the pressure on and they will reword you with good edge grip and shorter radius turn and plow thru what ever in the way. Just lay them up on edge, dip the big toe and let them run, will arc a big gs turn, if you have the balls to just let them run, have not found the speed limit. I skied them in wind effected snow, was able to blow thru it with stability. No pow yet, not what i bought them for, wider tip, my guess a little stiff for low angle. Plan in these being my everyday driver for VT.

**pmollenkof** · 01-07-2015, 08:50 AM

Cool, thanks. I think the Atris is probably a little more playful version of this.

**Smails** · 01-07-2015, 12:06 PM

Originally Posted by blur

I have 5 days on 2015 corvus 183 with dukes. These are stiff skis that require you to drive them hard. Push them, get your turn going early and keep the pressure on and they will reword you with good edge grip and shorter radius turn and plow thru what ever in the way. Just lay them up on edge, dip the big toe and let them run, will arc a big gs turn, if you have the balls to just let them run, have not found the speed limit. I skied them in wind effected snow, was able to blow thru it with stability. No pow yet, not what i bought them for, wider tip, my guess a little stiff for low angle. Plan in these being my everyday driver for VT.

How tall are you if you don't mind me asking?

I am in VT and I am constantly searching for a ski in this range and the corvus is very tempting. I am basically looking for a slightly more damp Katana.

I am also interest in differences between the Atris and and Corvus. Is the OP said, the Atris seems to be the more playful of the two (per Backcountry also) but the specs are pretty damn similar otherwise it appears?

**blur** · 01-10-2015, 04:50 PM

6' 165, ski at the bush,

**Meathelmet** · 01-18-2015, 09:57 AM

Bump! Anyone skied the atris?

**dFiddler** · 01-20-2015, 01:00 AM

I've had a time on the 184 Atris, 183 Corvus and the 193 Corvus. Overall I have been very impressed with all of them but the 193 Corvus stuck out as the leader in the pack for me. To compare the two, the Corvus has a good amount of tip rocker and none in the tail. A decent amount of camber and stiff throughout the length of the ski. Feels very stable at speed and also incredibly nimble. It definitely has a unique tail shape that takes a little getting use to. However, the tail feels very connected and makes it easy to engage turns. Confidence inspiring when it came to dropping cliffs. As for the Atris, it has considerably more tip and tail rocker as well as a little softer flex. Although the two skis have similar dimensions, they are quite different. The Atris being more soft snow oriented and less stable on hardpack. I didn't have a chance to ski the Atris in pow but that's where it would shine the most. The Corvus was great in pow and on groomers and is very versatile. I personally prefer a ski with less tail rocker so I was naturally drawn more to the Corvus. Hope this helps and let me know if there's anything else I can answer.

**Meathelmet** · 01-22-2015, 02:05 PM

I have longer sticks in the quiver, 188 Nocta, im103 in 183cm and LP105 in 184cm. So was looking for a shorter/easier dick-a-round ski, got the 178cm and mounted them with inserts & dynas. Dunno if I will put NTNs or Jesters as the other binding. Will ski for few days to check out what kind of sticks they are.

**Meathelmet** · 01-22-2015, 02:54 PM

Oh, forgot to post for the OP.

I have skied the Noctas in 188cm for the last 2 seasons. I am a midget by US standards, 180cm/75kg.
Really, really dig the skis in any kind of soft (duh!) be it pow or corn/soft glop. Where I have found they are also very good is any kind of dodgy snow,
like breakable crust etc. The tip floats, the skis are extremely predictable regardless the 18m stated radius and the tail releases with a blink.
No hookups or tail drags and you can stand on the tail much more than on most rockered skis I have skied on. They are good on hard snow, compared
to pontoons or whatnot. Moguls for me start to be pain in the ass due the lenght and as I am not built like Herman Mayer.

I have really been waiting for a thinner Nocta since the they got out. Nocta is super easy, jibby & playfull ski (yet you can give throttle) and my dream was to have one that is narrower and more...well...versatile. Hopefully the sticks live up to my extremely high expectations!
for the less than deep conditions.

**Jimty** · 01-23-2015, 02:13 PM

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts Meathelmet. Just pulled the trigger on a pair of 184s. I'm the same height and weight as you pretty much but was looking for a playful all rounder that can still charge a bit for trips to the Alps. Hand flexed them in the shop and liked the feel and build quality - it was one of those sticks you just know you're going to like. I'll be interested to compare them to my 184 Bacons. Annoyingly I now won't get to ride them until Feb thanks to work, so I'll have to live vicariously through you for a bit....

**Meathelmet** · 01-26-2015, 11:52 AM

Originally Posted by Jimty

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts Meathelmet. Just pulled the trigger on a pair of 184s. I'm the same height and weight as you pretty much but was looking for a playful all rounder that can still charge a bit for trips to the Alps.

Just 3 days on the sticks, so wont write any review yet. Ridden thigh deep pow, coulies, mank, crust, ice, moguls,windcrust and chalk.
There is one prob with the reviews in general, we human do tend to have the rosy goggles when we have bought something and I am no
different I guess.

Got the 178cm length and mounted them with inserts (dynafit ft12) leaving the other set open for NTNs or some marker jesters. My aim was to
get a shorter/touringfriendly/dickingaround skis to complement my other sticks, LP105s,im103s and Noctas.

So in short..
The Altris skiis short. So if I would have gotten theese to be my daily drivers, I would have definitely gone the 184cm route. But in no way are they
skimpy snowblades. They dont float like Noctas in 50cm of pow, they dont have the charginess of im103s or the tottallyutter crud slaying ability of the
LP105s. But, they perform very well in all those areas and while they are a total blast on the slopes, in the bushes or on the steeps doing jumpturns.
Where they surprisingly excel is skiing mank/windslab/glop on slow speed. The tip is predictable and tail is just perfect. On the steeps the short sidecut
dont show so they are not trampoline like or squirely, they just bite and pop to a turn, be it a shorter radius edging turn or a longer powerslarve.

Weird skis. I mean, my first day on them was in courmayer on pt.helbronner. Some 5000m vert during the day, pow, glop, crust and steep stuff and
since I clicked in the bindings I did not give a second thought about them. They were just very, very intuitive. Like my previous skis would have made a baby.

But, they are lightish skis, especially with dynafits so the 178cm version at least takes some concentration when skiing that icy & refrozen mank/mogul
stuff. Not that they get deflected that much (especially if you drive them on edges) but it is not that you can plow through stuff. They are nimble as fuck
though, so basically it just to roam around the obstacles instead of trying to charge through them.

**Jimty** · 01-31-2015, 09:34 AM

Thanks MH - very much appreciated. Looking forward to getting mine mounted - they should be arriving this week....

**canadafornia** · 01-31-2015, 12:28 PM

Nice to hear some feedback on Black Crows... hard to see these skis and even harder to get any information on how they ski

**gritter** · 02-01-2015, 12:45 PM

Anyone skied the Corvus? I'm looking at them as a possible replacement for some Praxis Freerides, but worried that they will be significantly stiffer. / plankier...

The Atris (which I have flexed) seemed quite forgiving, but the Navis seemed very stiff.

**ulty_guy** · 02-02-2015, 02:31 AM

My Corvus review from another thread....they're not ridiculously stiff at all, no metal, I think they're a very neutral ski which is a good thing if you ski a lot of different snow conditions.

Ski: Black Crows Corvus 183
Me: 5'10" 165 lbs
Conditions: left overs; some pow, plenty of light windcrust

I had been eyeing these up as there are still some deals on last year's model floating about. I had been skiing my own Rossi Experience 98's in a 180 most of the day and got to do a nice long run on these. Overall I have to say that I like them quite a bit with the caveat that I tend to like 'traditional' skis with a bit of rocker thrown in. They tend to lean to a larger, slightly lazy, radius turn if left to their own devices. This isn't a bad thing because it means they can cruise along in chop without getting their feathers ruffled. In light pow they were fun and easy to make short or long tuns as you like. In windcrust they were predicatble (a nice trait in those conditions) and weren't too hooky. On the little amount of piste I tried the edge grip seemed ok but they were slow edge-edge.

All in all, I have to say that they weren't the most energetic things ever, they were kinda like lithium, in a good way

**gritter** · 02-07-2015, 11:23 AM

So could someone give a comparison of the Atris to say a Wailer 112rp / Rossignol Soul 7?

I want something that would charge a bit more than the Wailers and which is a bit less twichy when skiing fast on soft stuff (you can almost trip over the Wailers they turn so fast at speed). Is the Atris just going to ski like the Wailers and should I be looking at the Corvus? I'm no slouch but I'm not the most aggressive guy on the hill, and I don't want a ski that has to be skied at mach 5 at all times.

**labuat** · 03-03-2015, 07:44 AM

Does anyone have experience on both the Atris or Corvus and the 2012/13 model year black diamond verdict? I need to replace my verdicts. I think they hold a decent edge and are fairly stable at speed (relatively fast tele skier speed anyhow) but they aren't particularly playful and I'd like something snappier and with a shorter radius. I'm wondering how the Atris or Corvus might compare. I'm 6'3 185, on axl's. 30-35 days a season, 95% of the days in Maine, one week in CB/JH and a bit of touring as well. Love the trees but still have plenty of fun arcing big turns on groomers or short turns along the sides - which IMO the verdicts suck at.

Thanks guys.

**gritter** · 03-03-2015, 02:04 PM

I bought the Atris in the end (also a teleskier).

They are a completely different beast to the Verdicts. Super playful, plenty of pop, can arc on the radius if you can get an edge in or slarve in the soft stuff. They ski very similarly to the DPS Wailer 112rp (perhaps a touch less turny, but not much in it). I think that it would be a pretty good treeski.

I'd imagine that the corvus is much more similar to the verdicts.

G.

**labuat** · 03-04-2015, 02:08 PM

Thanks. I went Atris too. Looking forward to testing them out in JH next week.

sf · 12-08-2015, 12:51 AM

Bump for updates.
Pretty much decided on the Atris for inbounds everyday skiing, but I'm not sure about length. It will take it's place in the quiver between 186 Wren 102s/alpine, 186 BGs/beast, and 187 Protest/alpine. I'm 190cm / 84kg, decent skier.
I know both lengths probably will be just fine, and normally I'd pick the 189, but some reviews mention that you shouldn't size up on this ski since it defeats the purpose of having a playful mid-fat. Others say that it's a easy ski to ski in all lengths,

Suggestions?

**gregL** · 12-08-2015, 10:31 AM

Originally Posted by sf

Others say that it's a easy ski to ski in all lengths, Suggestions?

I'm 173cm/77kg and spent yesterday on the 184. It felt super nimble and maybe a bit short (my regular ski is a 186 Bodacious). I say get the 189 for sure at your size.

**gregL** · 12-08-2015, 10:32 AM

Originally Posted by Meathelmet

Cesso Couloir above Courmayeur?

**Meathelmet** · 12-08-2015, 02:16 PM

Originally Posted by sf

Bump for updates.

I'm 190cm / 84kg, decent skier.
Suggestions?

Originally Posted by gregL

I say get the 189 for sure at your size.

This.

Here : 180cm/78kg, decent skier and presently I ski the 178cm. I have small regrets that I could have taken the 184 as it would have gotten a bit more
fore/aft stability when skiing crappier snow or hauling ass, but I have other skis for that.

I ski the 188cm Nocta as pow ski, which is super nimble for its size, but for me (as I am 10cm shorter than you) the 189cm Atris would prolly
be a one trick pony. It would be a bitch in moguls and on switchbacks due to my stumpy legs.
So yep, if you are not a total punter, then definitely go for 189cm. Unless you spin and billygoat all the time.

Originally Posted by gregL

Cesso Couloir above Courmayeur?

Yep. Was a wonderful day in the mountains that left a dark cloud in its aftermath. We were thinking skiing the valley from Dt.Geant but bailed as the heat started to ramp up before the midday. Things started to get touchy and we bailed. We chose to ski under the lift for the rest of the day...
Shit things happened only 1km away, at the same time that this pic was taken.

**verbier61** · 12-08-2015, 02:51 PM

fyi, the 2016 black crows corvus (pink and grey) is a very interesting ski, much more easy and forgiving than previous corvus, but still very stable and powerful. One of the best in class, more allround than the atris imvho.