2021 Black Crows Navis Freebird

Whether you're heading out for an extended, multi-day touring excursion, or just going for a quick early morning pre-work adventure, it's important to have a touring ski that's both lightweight and trustworthy. That's where the Navis Freebird comes in. As 102 mm underfoot with progressive tip rocker, the Navis Freebird can handle just about any type of snow condition. Sure, it's not as wide as a dedicated powder ski, and not as grippy on ice as a narrower, stiffer ski, but it has a very balanced combination of performance characteristics, which we like quite a lot. Black Crows uses a blended core of poplar and paulownia wood. Poplar provides energy and responsiveness, while paulownia keeps the weight to a minimum (just 3400 g per pair at the 179.1 cm length!). Fiberglass is combined with carbon fiber to provide more energy, responsiveness, and stability. The progressive tail shape gives the ski less washout and easier pivoting turn initiation. Black Crows also adds a layer of titanal underfoot for binding retention, although through our testing and experience we've found binding retention metal usually adds to performance as well, giving the ski a little more stability underfoot.

Jeff Neagle was able to test the 179.1 cm length and found the Navis Freebird to be a well-rounded ski for alpine touring. "Sometimes you get on a ski and it just does everything well. Nothing jumped out to me about the performance of the Navis Freebird, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, in fact, I consider it a good thing. It felt intuitive and trustworthy. I'd feel comfortable taking it just about anywhere on the mountain. Quick and maneuverable, but also relatively stable for such a lightweight ski." Christina Lustenberger spent a lot of time on the Navis Freebird this past season. "Great expedition or long day spring ski. Stable, playful, and stands nicely under pressure." The Navis Freebird is specifically designed for those long days and long expeditions. It's a perfect application for the ski, but if you're like most of us and just don't have the time or opportunity for that many extended backcountry touring trips, it works really well for day trips, too. You benefit from the same combination of performance.

Adam Fabrikant had basically the biggest compliment we can think of for the Navis Freebird. "If I could only ski one ski for the rest of my days it would be the green ski." Can you think of higher praise for a ski? To be perfectly honest, we can't, and it's a testament of how versatile and well-rounded this ski is. You could mount it with a strong alpine touring binding and literally never ski another ski and binding combination for the rest of your life. Will you lack performance in certain applications? Sure, but you're not going to be completely limited either. Do we recommend doing that? No, no we don't, but it's nice to know that if Adam had to choose one ski to do it all for the rest of his life, he thinks the Navis Freebird would be a fantastic choice.

If you're in the market for a lightweight, efficient touring ski that still provides really good performance for the way down and for a variety of different conditions, check out the Navis Freebird. Black Crows has put their touring collection together really nicely. If you think you need a little more width, you've got two options in the Ferox Freebird and Corvus Freebird. Think you need a lighter ski? In that case, you actually get four other options within the Black Crows line with the lightest bordering on Randonnée race ski. The Navis Freebird, however, is perhaps the most well-rounded of the bunch.