Tasty bit of marketing material by Chamonix based Black Crows. This is the story of Christina Lustenberger, Johanna Stalnacke and Tom Grant out in the middle of the middle with a triple threat media man (cameraman, drone pilot and photographer) getting a first descent. Just goes to show you what kind of footage can get with a skeleton crew if the components are badasses. Well done Black Crows!
“Take three crows warmly dressed, equipped with pink, green and grey skis. Put them down right in the middle of British Columbia with an all-in-one cameraman, drone pilot and photographer, sprinkle in an aesthetically pleasing gully with fresh snow and plunge into a state of almost mystic concentration. We would like to wish you a good trip.”
Black Crows is an independent french freeski brand from chamonix. founded in 2006 by pro freeskiers Camille Jaccoux and Bruno Compagnet, Black Crows was born out of a desire to collide beauty and efficiency into skis.
We create obsessively design driven objects that are uncompromising in performance and identity for contemporary skiing.
We aim for the pleasure of senses through freedom and adventure.
We believe that ski culture is a window to the world.
“The name, black crows, was dreamed up by Camille and alludes to the alpine chough, those black birds with yellow beaks and red claws which belong to the corvid family. Choughs are one of the few birds which can fly at an altitude of over 4000 meters, and provide a reassuring presence for skiers and mountaineers facing the solitude often felt in the high mountains. With a ski and a brand sorted, next up the friends needed to find the right look. It was up to Camille to use his contacts in the art and graphics worlds to find the future black crows artistic director. One of camille’s contacts was Yorgo Tloupas, a well-reputed french designer living in London who was particularly passionate about snowboarding.
It was thanks to the name black crows and the concept of a community of skiers that Yorgo developed the design base and the look for the first model. “one day, just as I’d started to lose all hope, Yorgo gave me a call and said ‘I’ve got an idea’. He explained his thinking behind using chevrons and his commitment to having no gratuitous graphics on the skis,” recalls Camille. “We knew that we were on to something straight away and since then we can’t seem to get rid of his chevrons!” The first corvus, 195cm of pink and black chevrons with a pink base imprinted with ‘black crows’ in big black letters, was rolled out to the public in Chamonix in December 2006.”
