The Black Crows Octo is a carving ski built on one deliberate refusal: there is no metal laminate in it. The Octo's materials list names exactly one metal part - the aluminum tail insert - and that fact frames everything below. At between 1525 and 1825 grams per ski the Octo is light for a carving ski - and both its charm and its ceiling trace back to that choice.

On groomed snow, the two independent reviews land on the same picture: an eager carver that lives in short and medium arcs with a snappy rebound between them. The one that measured the shape found tails close to flat and tips with little splay, leaving a long effective edge for the length - in its words, the Octo 'hooks in instantly' at moderate speed. The flex sits on the softer side for a carving ski, and that is the point: an intermediate can bend the Octo into a genuine carve at moderate, everyday speeds. Black Crows pitches it at 'fanatics and novices alike,' and the third-party reading lands unusually close to the brand's own.

The Octo's swallowtail needs careful attribution. Officially it is styling - the brand's own words are 'The swallowtail is there again, for style.' The mechanical story - a tail that flexes out of the arc early and rebounds into the next turn - comes from one third-party review plus our own shop reading, not from any Black Crows spec claim. That character will split opinion: some skiers will love the snap, others may find the release abrupt, and anyone set on a damp, planted, quiet tail is holding the wrong ski. Try it before committing.

The Octo's limits mirror its strengths. Without metal it cedes hard-ice edge authority and high-speed damping to full-metal frontside carvers; one independent review lined it up against the Head Supershape e-Magnum and called the Octo lighter, quicker and less demanding, with the Head holding ice better and staying calmer at pace. Performance peaks at mid-range speeds and tapers as the pace climbs, so shoppers chasing race performance should look elsewhere. And at 84mm this is a piste and piste-side ski, not a crud or powder tool - within the line, off-piste dabbling belongs to the Serpo (93mm, $999), while the Mirus Cor (87mm, $999) is the wilder freestyle-carve source the Octo descends from.

Sizing the Octo is unusually simple because the radius never moves: 14m at all four lengths (167.2, 173.4, 179.3, 185.4cm), so a longer ski buys stability and swing weight rather than a different turn shape. The 26/27 ski is a pure carryover - same style number (102357), same construction, same yellow colorway as 25/26. It retails at $949, skis only: the Octo ships flat, and the binding is a separate purchase we mount and size in the shop.