2027 Black Crows Vena Cor

The all-new 2027 Black Crows Vena Cor is a very exciting ski. One one hand, it makes perfect sense to build on the success of creative and fun skis like the Mirus Cor, but on the other, it’s sad to see a ski like the Justis go away. Interestingly, this Vena Cor doesn’t feel a whole lot like the Justis at all, so make sure you’re aware that this is not a direct replacement. So far, we’ve had a lot of good feedback and experiences on these skis, and while some of the short carving magic of the Mirus Cor falls short here in Vena, we more than make up for it in stiffness, versatility, and soft snow performance.

Built with a poplar wood core, the Vena Cor gets a few additives that add to the stiffness and response. Fiberglass laminates keep the ski highly energetic and Black Crows adds full-length carbon strips to the top and the bottom of the wood core. This ski certainly has the feel of a carbon-powered ski, but they also do a great job of keeping it feel less pingy or jittery than other carbon skis. While Black Crows lists this as an intermediate flex, we found that it’s stiffer than you may think, and this shows up in the edge grip of the ski. Tester Ben Grunow states: “I was pleasantly surprised how in control and responsive these were on ice. I think this ski is probably best fit for hard pack carving all mountain, light powder 4 inches or less and a corn snow crusher. Amazingly stiff ski with a light playful tip and tail. You really have to ski this ski and make sure you are ahead of it, other wise it will ski you. I don’t think the ski is for beginners or intermediate skiers. This ski to me felt like the ultimate carver and gave such amazing control on such a boiler plate day. I already know this is the most fun ski I’ll test all week. I went in the trying it out thinking before hand that it can’t be that good at all…I would love to take this out as a daily driver for carving it up on groomers or taking it into deep spring corn and smashing through it without skipping a beat.”

The shape, or the look of the ski, lends to creativity and innovation. It’s always interesting when the creative shape of the ski directly translates to the snow, and that’s what we’re dealing with here in Vena Cor. It’s 100 mm underfoot and uses a 17-meter turn radius. It also has a more forward mount point of –5 cm, making it feel less directional and causing more of a two-footed central stance, especially when dealing with softer snow. Vena Cor also uses a pointy tip and a swallow tail—two things that add to the aesthetic, but don’t do a ton when it comes to performance. We get some good feedback from Jon Legault who notes: “I immediately was blown away with not only the tail inspiration from the Mirus Cor, but I also like skis that have weird shapes and side cuts. Honestly it can pass as a daily driver if you don’t mind a wide ski, but it’ll definitely shine in anything but slow speeds as the wood core is a bit on the stiffer side in comparison to the Mirus Cor. Not only did I have a permanent smile on my face while on these skis, I couldn’t form a sentence after getting off of these skis because I was completely blown away by how much fun the ski handles.”

Many testers had similar reactions to these two, and frankly there are too many good quotes to use in this writeup. Make sure you read through tester profiles, though, as this is a unique and somewhat specific ski. We found that it carved better than other 100 mm non-metal skis out there with great energy. We also found that it was a bit more awkward in softer snow and didn’t track quite as smoothly as some others. There is a fine line on this ski, and a lot of it comes down to preference, but also balance and skill.