Black Crows: Fad or Fab?

[roQer]

The thing that bothers me most is how few people on them even get why they are called Black Crows

Plz enlighten us

[doebedoe]

Plz enlighten us

There is a legend that the black crows you meet in the mountains are the spirits of those people who've gone before us and perished in the mountains.

Thought it was pretty safe assumption that that is where brand name came from.

[Name Redacted]

Well...and I don't know this from an official source -- but there is a legend that the black crows you meet in the mountains are the spirits of those people who've gone before us and perished in the mountains.

Thought it was pretty safe assumption that that is where brand name came from.

Then there's a shitload of spirits around my neighborhood and maybe I should hold a seance to tell them to stay the fuck out of my trash.

They are good skis from what I've heard from most people who get on them. I demoed a few, and liked. They are mid-air on jumping the shark right now, but their marketing campaign hasn't gotten too cheesy and they haven't been bought by Rubbermaid or anything. I think they have leveraged the Chamonix thing well and told their story in a way that sells skis really well to 'Mericans.

Hippsters generally don't ski or snowboard. They ride fixie bikes with skinny bars around the city wearing tight pants and sipping NEIPA's or Pastry Stouts.

[Timberridge]

Plz enlighten us

I heard that Chris Robinson (of the band Black Crowes and once married to Kate Hudson fame) was doing a gig in Chamonix some years back. One of the founders Bruno Compagnet was a big fan of the band. At an after party, Andy Hess, a guitarist at the time with Robinson's band and the founder dude were discussing string resonance and tonal qualities in a 1960's Gibson guitar, when Bruno got the idea to tune the frequency of a ski's vibration by adding a series of fret-like wood inserts along the length of his skis. As a homage to this encounter, the name was born.

[mattig]

“They’re popular now so I can’t ski them and be a follower” = the most hipster post in this thread

Bit tongue in cheek there bro. Thing is, I tend to try skis that my friends with my bsl own, and I don't have AT boots, so I can't try any BCs... (I know... Why didn't they get Shifts?!)

My thoughts exactly. Couple anti comments here read like that to me.

Not sure if my problem is with human nature or TGR. For sure I've been guilty of it too. But goddamn... people get all squirrely when they perceive others as dissing skis they own.

1. Mostly all of these "anti" comments aren't anti at all. They're just from people who resist new (or seemingly new, depending on how European we're talking), popular things for whatever reason.

2. I bet most of these people wouldn't punch you in the dick if you said "here, try my skis." And I bet they wouldn't lie about it if they were awesome.

3. Attn BC fans No one is dissing you or your skis. You are very handsome and talented, and you have excellent skis.

Bottom line, some people don't want to go to extra effort to jump on what they perceive to be a bandwagon. Other people wonder what all the fuss is about. Different strokes, both OK. If someone put a pair in front of me with a 317bsl, I'd check em out, and if I loved them, they'd be worth 2-400 dollars to me, like every other ski I love.

I have no idea what's entertaining or confusing about any of this. Let us codgers have our "get off my lawn" moment. All we're really saying is "gosh! These are suddenly much more prevalent." The positive feedback from the maggotry is sufficient to suggest it's not a fad (which answers OP question).

[TahoeJ]

They are mid-air on jumping the shark right now

I'm not sure what this even means as far as a ski brand is concerned. They make good skis. Who gives a fuck otherwise? This thread is revealing a lot more about the haters than the people actually on them.

[doebedoe]

I heard that Chris Robinson (of the band Black Crowes and once married to Kate Hudson fame) was doing a gig in Chamonix some years back. One of the founders Bruno Compagnet was a big fan of the band. At an after party, Andy Hess, a guitarist at the time with Robinson's band and the founder dude were discussing string resonance and tonal qualities in a 1960's Gibson guitar, when Bruno got the idea to tune the frequency of a ski's vibration by adding a series of fret-like wood inserts along the length of his skis. As a homage to this encounter, the name was born.

gold.

[powdork]

I mean - I've seen a lot of Crow skis on Sierra Trading Post, after all.

my noctas were $299 there and they're sexy AF (especially for a gator fan)

[hoarhey]

Now matter how good, I not sure that comparing Black Crows to Volkl is a good analogy. Volkl has been around, and has been making great skis since at least the sixties. I think my first pair of serious skis was Volkl Zebras. They have been around the W.C. circuit since at least then. I would imagine that a good comparison would be ON3P, MOMENT, or even PM GEAR.
5-7 ago, when I had Wasatch Powder Skis, Black Crows contacted me and wanted me to sort of introduce their brand to the mountain west. I know they they have been rad in Cham for a while, but last year was the first time that I really noticed them around here.

I'd say they've been going strong in Jackson for 5-7 years.

Maybe you missed the boat?

[XXX-er]

" The name, black crows, was dreamed up by Camille and alludes to the alpine chough, those black birds with yellow beaks and red claws which belong to the corvid family. Choughs are one of the few birds which can fly at an altitude of over 4000 meters, and provide a reassuring presence for skiers and mountaineers facing the solitude often felt in the high mountains. With a ski and a brand sorted, next up the friends needed to find the right look. It was up to Camille to use his contacts in the art and graphics worlds to find the future black crows artistic director. One of camille's contacts was Yorgo Tloupas, a well-reputed french designer living in London who was particularly passionate about snowboarding. It was thanks to the name black crows and the concept of a community of skiers that Yorgo developed the design base and the look for the first model. “one day, just as I'd started to lose all hope, Yorgo gave me a call and said 'I've got an idea'. He explained his thinking behind using chevrons and his commitment to having no gratuitous graphics on the skis,” recalls Camille. “We knew that we were on to something straight away and since then we can't seem to get rid of his chevrons!” The first corvus, 195cm of pink and black chevrons with a pink base imprinted with 'black crows' in big black letters, was rolled out to the public in Chamonix in December 2006 ."

its on the web site

[blackalps]

There is a legend that the black crows you meet in the mountains are the spirits of those people who've gone before us and perished in the mountains.

Thought it was pretty safe assumption that that is where brand name came from.

completely wrong. It's in reference to the birds in Chamonix. but keep your knowitall thing going, it's amusing.

Black Crows are terrific skis. Unfortunately the US reps blow goats.

[hoarhey]

choucas, baby!

[ffmedic84]

They are all over the mountains of Summit. We’ve been selling a ton of them to dentists and dirt bags. It helps that they’ve got their sales guys in Denver now at the old Icelantic hq. A couple of the more backcountry orientated ski shops are all in on their touring line up too.


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[Name Redacted]

I'm not sure what this even means as far as a ski brand is concerned. They make good skis. Who gives a fuck otherwise? This thread is revealing a lot more about the haters than the people actually on them.

If you read and comprehended the entire statement, you might realize that it isn't an insult, just observation, that they are growing in popularity very fast, without being sold out to irrelevance yet. Very few brands can maintain this status forever.

So not hating here, just making an observation as I see the brand evolving. I'd liken them to the Jones snowboards of the ski industry in a lot of ways. Blowing up right now, following a similar trajectory, perhaps with fewer quality issues in their beginning.

[TheK12]

i think the issue is that TahoeJ doesn't like being called a hipster by extension.... :-) . (i.e. Black Crows = hipster = anybody who has them is a hipster)

but the argument is solid that they are definitely on the rise right now. it's not a commentary on quality for sure but definitely an accurate observation of their popularity at the moment.

[doebedoe]

completely wrong. It's in reference to the birds in Chamonix. but keep your knowitall thing going, it's amusing. .

Why do you think a bunch of dudes in the Cham give a fuck about a particular bird enough to name their skis after them? Yes the legend of black crows being those perished now watching over those in the mountains developed in the Alps. Yes they have black crows in Cham. Go read a book -- its how you become a know it all that actually knows some things. Its all spelled out in Conquistadors of the Useless.

[TahoeJ]

completely wrong. It's in reference to the birds in Chamonix. but keep your knowitall thing going, it's amusing.

He's not wrong, they say that about the birds in Chamonix all the time, in practically every ski segment filmed there.

If you read and comprehended the entire statement, you might realize that it isn't an insult, just observation, that they are growing in popularity very fast, without being sold out to irrelevance yet. Very few brands can maintain this status forever.

So not hating here, just making an observation as I see the brand evolving. I'd liken them to the Jones snowboards of the ski industry in a lot of ways. Blowing up right now, following a similar trajectory, perhaps with fewer quality issues in their beginning.

Should have clarified I wasn't grouping you in as a hater.

i think the issue is that TahoeJ doesn't like being called a hipster by extension.... :-) . (i.e. Black Crows = hipster = anybody who has them is a hipster).

Meh, I don't really care one way or the other. Just bullshitting on a ski forum.

[CascadeLuke]

Next up on the hot trends chopping block: Norrona! Let’s hear it...

‘It’s just bright overpriced SF techy hipster douche bag apparel’

[TheK12]

Or Flylow, good gear made by and for hardcore skiers, or branded meh gear that SF techies buy to "buy" coreness...

[blackalps]

Why do you think a bunch of dudes in the Cham give a fuck about a particular bird enough to name their skis after them? Yes the legend of black crows being those perished now watching over those in the mountains developed in the Alps. Yes they have black crows in Cham. Go read a book -- its how you become a know it all that actually knows some things. Its all spelled out in Conquistadors of the Useless.

Because they said so, multiple times. They came up with the brand in Chamonix, and wanted to name it after something they associated with the area. I listened to one of the founders talk about it in person, IRL. Do some basic googling, ya arrogant douche.

[ex-powderbroker]

norrona > dead bird
flylow > most things > strafe

eta: this is america. PRAXIS!

[blackalps]

“The Black Crows vision was conceived in a Chamonix tavern during a conversation between Jaccoux and two friends, French freeski pioneer Bruno Compagnet and industrialist investor Christophe Villemin, in the winter of 2004-2005”


“Black Crows' name and design is as much a part of the skis' identity as its construction and performance. When trying to come up with a name for his fledgling ski company, Jaccoux thought of the yellow-beaked mountain blackbird, the chocard, that skiers and mountaineers see frequently playing in the air currents in the Alps. The little corvid with its metallic black plumage inspired the name Black Crows, which Jaccoux admitted he liked because "it's a bit rock and roll””

www.powder.com/stories/small-brand-shoutout-black-crows/%3famp

Just one of several such stories/quotes.

[LHutz Esq]

Wouldn't true hipsters tele?

Tele is the manual typewriter of the skier world.

Or ski on artisanal skis manufactured from hand-hewn poplar and birch?

.....ah shit I'am a hipster.

Anyone want to buy the "Huski"?

Only ones in existence - guaranteed anti-core

[Andyski]

Their branding, which has nothing to do with the build or design quality of their skis, is hilariously over the top. On Easter (last year? Two years ago?) they had an Instagram post that was something like one of their skiers tied to a crucifix made of a pair of their skis. Their marketing copy has jewels like this everywhere: “The Solis is like a gateway between two worlds: the base of the ski is in contact with the matter and magic of nature. Its shape and structure represent the world of imagination and sensations.”

You almost have to grudgingly respect how ridiculous they are.

I actually just got a pair of solis cheap from Euroland and they look rad. Would totally understand anyone who wouldn’t buy their shit because they find their brand annoying.

[kathleenturneroverdrive]

You guys ever seen that weightlifting forum argument about how many days there are in a week? This is that


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