Gear Review | Black Crows Draco Freebird

First impression

The ski first catches the eye with its vibrant orange colour, but then also with its weight. Sure, it's wide and long, but for a ski from a touring series for the year 2023, it's really not lightweight. On the other hand, it makes a very solid and stiff impression, in line with its intended use. The twintip, which is very pronounced for a modern touring ski, is also striking. The Draco Freebird has moderately pronounced rocker at the tip and tail, as well as normal camber in the centre. It is also equipped with a recess in the tip and a holder on the tail for matching skins.

Testers and test conditions

I am 183cm tall and weigh just under 80kg. I ski a lot, especially on ski tours. For me, it's all about the descent and I'm mostly looking for powder snow and rarely find myself on summits. That's why I prefer to use wider skis on ski tours. For many years, I used the CountDown 2 DownSkis with a centre width of 114mm in good conditions. The Draco Freebird fulfils this role for me, a wide touring ski for good conditions. As a standard touring ski, it would be too wide for me; I prefer to use skis with a maximum width of 105mm under the binding. Nevertheless, I like to have an additional wider touring ski for the good days.

I skied the Draco Freebird last season in spring, as well as in the still young 2023/2024 season in autumn, for testing purposes and also used it frequently in not-so-deep conditions. The rental version of the Marker Kingpin M-Werks binding was fitted and I used Dynafit Tigards as boots. As I'm not very fond of short skis, I tested the ski in 189.2cm. Despite the decent twin tip, that's quite a length.

The test ski came with the matching skins, which are Blackcrow-labelled Colltext with corresponding hooks.

Test report

As I said, the ski is not very light, especially with the rental binding and the Tigards I have more weight on my feet than usual. Nevertheless, all in all it's not heavy and therefore also suitable for longer ascents. Speaking of ascents, I don't really think that skins that fit the skis are necessary, but it is practical if they are not only delivered pre-cut, but are also easy to mount thanks to the hole in the ski and the matching hook on the skins and simply fit well. Apart from that, I can't report much about the ascent, although it should also be noted that the ski is mounted quite centrally. Nevertheless, I didn't notice any problems, even when making kick turns in deeper snow.

On the descent, it quickly becomes clear that the ski needs to be skied precisely and actively. You will have less fun with the Draco Freebird if you simply stand on it. On the other hand, it is also very solid at really high speeds in hard snow or on the piste. In general, it surprises me above all in hard snow or on the piste. For a touring ski with a centre width of 110mm, it performs exceptionally well and carving is really fun. Of course, the ski also performs well in soft powder, but it has to be said that it doesn't have a lot of float for such a wide ski due to the low rocker, the hard flex and the central mounting point. If you stand more classically on the ski and put pressure on the tip, it sometimes dives away or digs in. I therefore used the option of the rental binding and moved the mounting point a good centimetre behind the recommended point, which helped a little. Nevertheless, you should stand in the centre of the ski, which is probably becoming more and more the standard, but which I tend to ignore. Even in really difficult conditions such as broken harsh snow or frozen, tracked snow, the ski is solid, but also tends to snow up easily. If you're good on it, no problem, but if you lack either the strength or the technique, it quickly becomes exhausting in poor conditions.

All in all, an unusual ski for good skiers which, despite its width, is more of an all-rounder than a pure powder ski. If you are looking for a solid, predictable and speed-stable ski rather than as much float as possible, the Draco Freebird could certainly be of interest. Personally, I would like a little more rocker on the tip, but I also realise that this would compromise the very good handling characteristics in hard snow. I thought for a while about whether I could think of a ski with a similar design and there is actually only one, namely the Scott Cascade 110 from about 7 years ago. In this respect, Black Crows offers an interesting, rather special option, which will certainly have its fans.

Conclusion

Stiff, not quite light ski for big mountain activities, which is not only good for touring. Despite its width, it is more of an all-rounder than a pure powder ski. For good skiers in particular, it is also excellent in mixed or especially hard conditions.

Advantages and disadvantages

+ Very stable ski that can cope with any speed

+ Good performance in all types of snow

+ Surprisingly good (for the width) in hard snow

- Expensive

- Not a lot of float

Information

RRP €999.95

Lengths 175.2 | 181.5 | 189.2
Floating properties: high with 110mm at the waist
Rocker: double rocker, great manoeuvrability, control and pivot point
Camber: classic camber underfoot with short ski/snow contact for more turning pleasure
Sidecut: slightly straight sidecut for more stability and a better balance between firmness and manoeuvrability
Flex: firm flex for stability and precision, with progressive flex in the tip for comfort and efficiency
Mounting point: -5cm
Drilling: diameter 3.5mm x L 9mm
Do not mount with Telemark bindings!

Here is the link to the Black Crows website with more information. Here you can buy the ski from our partner shop Sport Conrad.

The ski was provided to us free of charge by Black Crows for the test period. You can find out how we tested it in our test statement.