For a small, independent ski brand based out of Chamonix in France, Black Crows have an impressive worldwide reputation – especially when you consider they’ve only been in business for a decade.
Camille Jaccoux and Bruno Compagnet, both passionate freeriders, met their future business partner in the Grands Montets cable car in the winter of 2005/2006 and in true French style, they pitched him their idea for a ski brand over a glass of fine red wine. However by all accounts once Christophe Villemin had heard their plans he didn’t take much convincing to get involved. The industrialist became the money man in the partnership, and Black Crows was born.
“Each ski weighs just 1.65kg, making them as easy to skin up on as they are fun to ride down.“
Their initial idea was to create a ski big enough to float in powder that was also nimble enough to turn quickly. That might sound like a contradiction in terms but the Corvus, the ski they launched in that first season, managed to combine those two characteristics very effectively. Off the back of that first model which they still make to this day the brand built a reputation in Chamonix, a town where people are famously choosy about their gear. From there, word spread quickly to the rest of the skiing world.
