Not everyone needs an ultralight, ultra-high-performance ski jacket. Black Crows is an up-and-coming French brand whose skis are increasingly being spotted ripping down North American slopes. After 9 years of making skis, in 2015, Black Crows started making ski apparel. Let's take a closer look at two of their jackets: the Ferus Mechanical 2L and the Ora Xpore Ripstop.
Black Crows Ferus Mechanical 2L Jacket Review
Designed for “comfortable all-terrain skiing,” this ski jacket brings the quality of Black Crows to a broader market of skiers. It’s not all about high-performance apparel anymore. I slipped my arms through the soft, recycled lining of the Black Crows Ferus Mechanical Jacket and smiled.
In short: This technical but approachable-in-price women’s jacket offers an amazing fit with a durable shell for a wide range of conditions. It has light lining and insulation and is laden with pockets (and other features). Its buttery smooth exterior is as stylish as it is protective.
Design and Fit
In terms of the fit, this jacket is unique given the cinched style at the waist, the anorak pocket, as well as elastic in the back of the waist to adjust fit. Overall, Black Crows nailed the design with this jacket (and the women’s fit was spot on, too - our 5’8″ female tester wore a size M). The wrist cuffs were sketched with slope lines from La Vallée Blanche in the Alps.
Finally, we can’t talk about the design of this jacket without talking about the inside lining’s print. But also, it’s got a really soft and comfortable interior, and a unique style. After testing, it seems like Black Crows thought of everything with this jacket.
Read also: Performance Analysis: Black Diamond Ski Pants
Insulation and Performance
The jacket’s insulation (what Black Crows markets as “light but effective”) kept me plenty insulated on a cloudy, windy ~20-degree day. The insulation was also stellar, from mild conditions to gusty, overcast days.
I got my hands on one of the first samples of the new Ferus Mechanical 2L jacket ($540) ahead of the 2023 season. Sadly, I wouldn’t be skiing off-piste in France (this time).
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Black Crows Ventus Light Jacket
The Black Crows Ventus Light is one of the cooler-looking hardshell jackets we've tested. Its combination of subdued colors and a baggier fit gives off an understated radness that's sure to impress many folks on the slopes.
The Ventus Light is made utilizing the 3-layer Gore-Tex construction that's seen on many top-rated hardshell jackets. In our tests, this material provided the full waterproofness that we have grown to expect from this technologically advanced and reliable fabric.
The Ventus Light has a relaxed cut and sober styling that appeals to today's steezier crowd. We found the cut is mobile enough for resort or backcountry skiing, but less than ideal for mountaineering or ice climbing.
Read also: Comprehensive Review: Rossignol Black Ops
This jacket includes a nice complement of pit zips and a two-way front zipper to supply adequate venting options. Our testers also found these features to be especially necessary because they notice that the 70-denier polyamide fabric didn't seem to be as breathable as others.
Features and Drawbacks
The benefit to the Ventus Light's extra weight is a plethora of nice features. There are two internal stash pockets for storing a pair of gloves or climbing skins. Another pocket on the left arm serves as a great spot to keep your lift pass on resort or sidecountry ski days.
Although our testers enjoyed many of this jacket's features, they were concerned about the design of a few others. When the waist cord is tightened it leaves a long loop of slack which is prone to snagging on tree branches or carabiners.
For this price, you do get a plethora of features that includes five pockets, integrated wrist gaiters, and a tethered lens cleaning cloth. However, the features come with drawbacks in terms of weight and bulkiness. What's even more concerning, is we have doubts about its durability.
Performance Issues
From a performance perspective, however, our testers were far from impressed. At 20.8 ounces for a size large, it was one of the heaviest jackets in the hardshell category. It's also one of the bulkiest which makes it a poor choice when the forecast is good and your jacket is likely to remain in your pack.
Read also: Black Diamond Gloves for Extreme Conditions
We were particularly disappointed to see the main zipper break randomly and discover that the large-toothed zippers on the accessory pockets are not fully waterproof.
Although we tested the “Light” version of the Black Crows Ventus it ended up being one of the heaviest models in our entire hardshell selection. At 20.8 ounces for a size large, it weighed more than twice as much as some of its competitors. It is also one of the bulkiest and largest to pack. These drawbacks make sense when you consider that this jacket is rare among technical hardshells for including metal snaps, large-toothed zippers, and integrated wrist gaiters.
One issue is the limited stretchiness of the 70-denier polyamide fabric which can reduce your freedom of movement. Another issue is that our long-armed testers found the sleeves to be too short and this made the integrated gaiters painful to wear. The baggier fit seemed to help the waist hem and wrist cuffs stay in position, but the internal wrist gaiters were uncomfortably short for our long-armed testers, such as this 6'2" tester wearing a size large.
We were also disappointed with the adjustability of the hood closure which features just a single drawcord clamp. This design limited how well we were able to seal the hood while wearing a variety of helmets or no helmet at all. A final concern was the wrist gaiters that are integrated into each of the sleeves. These gaiters are great for sealing extra body heat in, but if they get wet, they are slow to dry. We struggled to seal the hood tightly with some helmets due to this hood's single drawcord closure. We didn't find the 70-denier polyamide fabric to be very breathable or mobile, and the main zipper experienced an inexcusable failure.
Black Crows Ora Xpore Ripstop Jacket Review
This was the first day of testing my Black Crows Ora Xpore Ripstop jacket. Black Crows made the jacket with recycled and PFC-free 3L Xpore mechanical stretch ripstop material. I put the Ora Xpore through the wringer to find out.
In short: I tested the Ora Xpore Ripstop jacket through November, December, and into January of this year. I saw wet, stormy, cold, clear bluebird days, and everything in between. Wind couldn’t touch me. Water never soaked through. This jacket rocks.
Xpore Technology
Before diving into the jacket itself, it’s worth taking a look specifically at Xpore. We’ll be blunt here: Xpore seems to perform well, but so do dozens of other waterproof-breathable membranes, like the venerable GORE-TEX. The company’s catalog of fabrics offers natural/synthetic blends that use a mix of pineapple leaf fiber and recycled polyester. Others are made from bio-nylon, which is generated by microorganisms renewably, instead of being refined from crude oil.
For the Ora Xpore Ripstop jacket, Black Crows used the 3L Xpore Xtreme Power fabric with a 149 gsm weight. The tech behind which, is functionally similar to other waterproof-breathable textiles. It has a membrane permeated with nanopores, 20,000 times smaller than water droplets. Any fabric can incorporate Xpore. That includes natural ones like wool or cotton, or unique ones like denim or leather.
The Ora jacket is made with Black Crows’ customized 46% recycled polyester 3L Xpore fabric. When you grab it, it feels very durable, and it didn’t snag, rip, or tear when I skied through tight pine trees or pushed through the brush.
Design and Features
The wrist cuffs have colorful push-through lycra sleeves with bright Black Crows logos. The interior of the jacket is embossed with more colorful Black Crows logos along the seam tape. Wear the low hem straight, or unsnap a couple of buttons on the back and it’s got tails. The parka-style layout has four big pockets with magnetic buttons on the front. The powder skirt’s zipper makes it easy to remove when you don’t need it. And the hood easily fits over and cinches down on a helmet. Inside there’s also a zipped Napoleon pocket and a mesh pocket that’s the perfect size to fit your skins in after transitioning for a descent.
Performance and Issues
There were just two parts of the jacket that didn’t perform great for me. The first was one of the hood cinching tabs - it popped straight off the elastic string the first time I grabbed it. The second was the main YKK waterproof zipper. YKK is the best zipper maker in the world. But with this jacket, I find myself manhandling the zipper tab every time I put it on to line it up perfectly. Either of those issues could be anomalous manufacturing defects. Another Ora jacket might not have those problems.
Ski shells are one of those articles of apparel that seem like they should be so simple and similar across brands. It just needs to block wind and water. It requires no insulation. But in the Ora Xpore jacket, Black Crows made a ski shell that goes well above and beyond that baseline. Then on top of all that, it also has eco-friendly, recycled, durable material that’s every bit as breathable, windproof, and waterproof as other leading 3L fabrics.
I’ve fallen in love with the Ora Xpore Ripstop jacket this season. Enough that I actually retired my trusty old Summit L5 Shell from The North Face.
The storm was dumping cold wet snow on us and the temperature was dropping. But that was because I hadn’t quite figured out the layering requirements for this jacket. It only took a little more experimenting to dial that in, though. And as a shell, the Ora performed exceptionally well. The waterproofing never gave out on me. With adequate layers underneath, I stayed warm and I never once felt freezing gusts of wind penetrate the fabric. The waterproofing never gave out on me.