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Review: Black Crows Solis

By

Gavin Hess

The natural habitat for the Black Crows Solis—steep terrain.

The natural habitat for the Black Crows Solis—steep terrain.

  Julien Regnier, noted ski shaper at Black Crows, has cooked up something special in the Solis. Our gear editor claims the Solis is appropriate for more skiers than the marketing suggests.   Intro Where do we start? Black Crows…no longer the newest kid on the block; they are a teenage brand (literally), epitomizing Chamonix…

Responses

  1. Travis

    really appreciate that you discuss how these skis handle inbounds. I do a lot of resort touring and it’s always good to know how these tools perform in the “2D” world.

  2. Barry Wicks

    Loving these reviews Gavin! You are really good at explaining how a ski works and how all the different pieces (rocker, camber, taper, flex etc) contribute to how the ski feels and performs. Good work.

  3. Alex Hatcher

    Would be curious how you see this ski performs differently than the Navis Freebird. They both come in similar lengths, weights, and widths. From my untrained eye it looks like the Navis might have less tip rocker length and maybe more camber, leading to superior firm snow performance and worse soft snow experiences. But that’s just a guess. I know you’re familiar with both skis-any insight to share here?

    1. Gavin Hess

      Hey Alex,
      Believe it or not, I haven’t skied on the Navis yet. I’ve got a pair coming this winter as it seems like a glaring hole in my ski testing! Generally I view the Navis as very similar to the Zero G 105, just a bit heavier and more rockered. I’ll report back when I write about the Navis, but I would guess that more camber and tighter turn radius make the Navis feel a little more quick and energetic and better suited to carved turns vs the pivot and smear that the Solis excels at.

      1. Alex Hatcher

        Got it! Maybe it was Slator who speaks highly of the Navis. Somebody on that Gear Shed podcast. Thanks for your thoughts. Keep the ski reviews coming!

  4. Stephen Glass

    Between the Solis and Camox, which would you choose and why for a CO spring ski where steep and soft is the goal, but snow can/will be variable?
    It might see a couple specific trips too (Rainier, Denali, Chimborazo) but those are more of an afterthought.

    1. Travis

      Camox Freebird or standard Camox?

      1. Stephen Glass

        Freebird. Planning to run either with Gara Titan and Scarpa F1 XT.

    2. Gavin Hess

      Despite the similar waist dimensions, the Camox FB and Solis are really different beasts. For starters, you save ~200g going for a similar length Camox vs Solis, which are already on the medium-heavy side for 95mm touring skis. More than anything though, their character is totally different – I found the Camox (which I have only skied a few days) soft, turny, and relatively easy going. I could see it being an excellent daily driver in lower snow locales, as well as a great option for intermediate skiers. All that said, I found the Camox a bit too soft to feel confident in steep and firm terrain.

      As I’m sure you can infer, this description is pretty different from the Solis. If the weight doesn’t bother you and the pivoting and slashing style intrigues you, the Solis could be a good option. Otherwise, more of a middle ground could be a good fit – sticking with Black Crows this would be the Navis, otherwise, something like the Zero G 105, Fischer Transalp 105, Heritage Lab BC100 ( I am very psyched to get a set of these).

  5. Chris McCaffrey

    Could you compare the solis to the Raven by chance??? As a reverse camber convert, I’m skiing 95% of my days in bounds on something fully rockered (4frnt Dev as my firm day ski.) But, I don’t have a fully rockered touring ski. I have a Folsom custom 110 as my daily driver that’s got a small amount of camber underfoot, but isn’t great on slick or firm snow. I’m really tempted by the Raven as a steep ski and couloir ski, but the reviews seem to lack the sort of use case I’m imagining. Any thoughts??

    1. Peter Vordenberg

      Hi Chris, I am not Gavin and don’t have the breadth of his experience, but I have skied both skis a fair bit. I really liked the Raven in soft snow. Super fun ski. I did not like it in any kind of hard snow – not climbing or descending. I guess I am not alone in that as they created the Nevar seemingly to address some of those harder snow issues. It would be fun to try the Nevar. On the other hand the Solis is really good in hard snow (as it should be) both climbing and descending and more surprizingly is also really good in soft snow and even powder, and it is a much easier ski to ski than advertised. Not at all a one-trick pony or some punishing hard-man only tool. It is pretty darn fun ski, and I guess it is a pretty good serious ski too – holds and edge on hard snow, that’s for sure.

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