2026 Black Crows Camox Birdie

For 2026 we get a new Black Crows Camox Birdie! For years, this ski fell into the category of being a wonderful twin tip around 98 mm underfoot, and those generally score quite well in our experience. This new Camox Birdie takes a lot of the qualities that the older ski had and brings them to a smoother and more stable base. By adding denser wood to the core and flattening the shape a bit, Camox Birdie becomes slightly more on-trail oriented, bringing with it some of the twin tip flair, but moving it a bit outside of the freestyle realm. While it used to be park-adjacent, it’s now moving more to all-mountain freeride, and a high performance move at that. First and foremost, this ski likes speed. It comes alive and basically calms down as the velocity increases, and while it’s not as bouncy or zippy as the older one, it has a lot more oomph when it comes to fast GS turns on groomers and through crud and chop.

The new Camox Birdie is still built with mainly a poplar wood core, but now we get an ash insert underfoot. This denser ash wood provides a lot of silence, damping, and power in the center of the ski while the tips and tails are on the more mobile and agile side. Other than the ash, there’s not a lot going on—the poplar and fiberglass do a lot of energetic additions to the performance of the ski while the ash brings it damper and quieter. We were very impressed with how this ski handled firmer snow at higher speeds and in longer turns. Tester Allarie Sullivan notes that it’s “heavier than I would have liked but also stable and relaxed.”

The shape and profile are a bit flatter and straighter than in the past, giving the new Camox Birdie a more chargey and fall-line fixation. We think it’s a good move and separates the ski from a huge group of 98 mm twin tip skis. Putting more of an aggressive emphasis on the ski just seems to make sense. As a result of the ski’s flatter profile, there’s a longer effective edge that hooks into the turn and provides a progressive feel and style from end to end. With an 18-meter turn radius in the 175 cm length, these skis feel a bit straighter but have a shorter stated radius than the predecessor. The lack of taper here makes the difference, and it results in a smoother feel rather than a poppy one. Lauren Morton “Was not expecting to have fun on a surfy center mounted ski but I did! It’s perfect in the heavy slush.”

We really got along well with the new Camox Birdie. With a sturdy feel, a high level of energy, and a nice marriage of soft and firm snow, this new ski is a wonderfully versatile all-mountain ski. It has a lot of Black Crows attitude to it as well, and as usual, it separates itself from other skis in the Crows line and the ski industry as a whole. While there’s a lot of competition in this class of skis, we think the Camox Birdie offers a unique blend of high-speed compliance and soft snow versatility.