2026 Black Crows Atris Birdie

The 2026 Black Crows Atris Birdie gets a new graphic for this year but returns structurally unchanged. Up against a jam-packed category of competitors, it has made its mark thanks to its uncompromising performance and playful personality. With a shape designed for soft snow conditions, its ability to keep composure in variable snow at high speed gives it such versatility and a wider scope of capabilities. What makes this ski so unique is though it features a relatively simple construction, it is paired with a sophisticated shape that works wonders together. With an exceptional balance of energy and strength, it’s no surprise this ski is a popular choice for professional skiers. Atris Birdie is a surfy, fun, and exciting ski for modern freeride skiing.

Black Crows does an excellent job without a whole lot of sophistication in the build. Given the high-performance nature and refined feel, it is surprising how simple the construction is. The extent of the build here features a poplar wood core which is reinforced by fiberglass laminates. Despite how minimalist it is, the poplar gives the ski a dense and incredibly energetic feel while the fiberglass provides stability and damping. This combination of materials keeps the ski light but with exceptional torsional rigidity, making it impressively consistent and powerful at high speeds and through variable snow conditions. All in all, the Atris Birdie matches suppleness with strength, leaving creative skiers a lot of options for how to ski the mountain. This speaks volumes for a ski with a 105-mm waist width, and it’s easy to see why it would make such a great daily driver for so many. Tester Ashley Maxfield calls it a “Great poppy ski. Skied shorter than I thought. But a really fun ski.”

With the Atris Birdie, it’s really all about the blend of construction and footprint. Looking first at the profile, we get a rocker/camber/rocker profile with slightly more rocker in the tips. This ends up giving the Atris Birdie the ability to ski directionally quite well and with assertion. A classic freeride profile, with significant splay in both the tip and tail, the amount of float and level of playfulness is off the charts. With a nice poppy camber profile underfoot, it produces great energy and liveliness, not to mention an impressive edge grip for a ski at this width. As far as the sidecut, in the 166.3 cm length, the forebody has a 135 mm width, 105 mm waist width, and 122 mm tail width, producing a 19-meter turn radius. This speaks to its big mountain nature as it loves to make big, open, smeary style turns. That said, if you want to shorten your turns and be quick on your feet, they are happy to oblige. Tester Megan Papineau notes: I was not expecting to love Black Crows even though I really wanted to because they’re so pretty. But these were great! They impressed me the most on steep icy groomers.”

Form and function work harmoniously with this ski. The Black Crows Atris Birdie is a big mountain, freeride ski with versatile attributes and an aggressive but playful style. Though it is geared towards advanced level skiers, its dependable, predictable flex pattern allows intermediates to access it and build confidence. The simple yet complimentary construction bodes well with the modern, freeride shape and allows creative skiers to have fun all over the mountain. With a surfy and fun-loving nature, the Atris Birdie is the true dictionary definition of a fantastic freeride ski.