Dynastar M-Pro 99 Skis

If you are as confused as I was about all these M-Skis from Dynastar then perhaps a brief overview will help. The M-Free Skis are very playful directional twin-tip skis that utilize a symmetrical shape and progressive mounting points based on Richard Permin's Proto Ski from a few years ago. They are ideal for skiing off-piste in search of pow and pillow lines. The M-Free’s are a slightly lighter all-mountain touring ski when compared to the M-Pro Skis and use a Poplar PU Hybrid Core with Fibreglass Torsion Box reinforcements. M-Tour Skis are much lighter-weight skis and are designed for dedicated backcountry touring. The M-Tour Skis swap out the Poplar wood found in the M-Free Skis and instead use Paulownia wood which makes them lighter. In addition to this, they keep the PU for its ability to smooth out bumps and vibrations and add to it a Basalt Fibre V2 reinforcement layer that has similar mechanical properties to fibreglass but with a 25% weight reduction. The M-Pro Skis are a beefier all-mountain skis that excel at the resort and use a Hybrid Core with PU, Poplar and a full layer of Titanal. They are the more directional counterpart to the twin-tipped M-Free line and are designed for all-mountain adventures. They are more traditionally shaped directional skis with a more common rocker/camber/rocker profile.

As I mentioned above, part of the reason the M-Pro 99 Skis are so much heavier than their M-Tour counterparts is that they use poplar wood instead of paulownia but they also use a generous amount of polyurethane (PU) in their construction which substantially adds on weight and thus power. There is also a layer of Titanal running edge to edge under the binding mountain area which then tapers in front and remains fat in the back. This titanal layer helps keep the skis light and rigid while the PU is adept at making the skis more damp (as well as heavy), this combination of poplar wood, Titanal metal, and polyurethane is what makes this ski able to tackle such adverse conditions and terrain.

The M-Pro 99 Skis have a directional rocker profile with a pretty deep tip rocker that starts well down from the tips of the skis and progressively ramps up. This provides impressive float in deep snow and allows the M-Pro 99s to plow over chopped and broken snow. In the tails, there is a fairly subtle early rise which helps the skis complete their turns by providing a long contact edge with the snow. This minimal tail rocker also enables the skis to perform kick turns on the up track with ease.

Dynastar uses an adaptive sidecut in all of the M skis to smoothly transition the ski's reduced shape underfoot to its larger tip and tail geometry. This helps provide a smoother, more stable ride on firm snow and gives them an energetic edge grip.

These are super versatile skis that execute both long and short-radius turns with ease and offer quick and maneuverable edge-to-edge performance. Their all-mountain shape and profile handle pretty much any snow condition and terrain—providing a solid, damp ride quality.

• Poplar/PU Hybrid Core
• Partial Titanal Sheet
• Fiberglass Laminate

• Freeride Rocker
• TI Rocket Frame
• Adaptive Sidecuts
• Directional Rocker

Given our low snow year here in western Canada, powder has been hard to come by for testing the M-Pro 99 Skis but luckily when the snow starts to get a little firm is exactly when these skis shine. The M-Pro 99s produce a lot of energy and like to go fast but you need to stay on them and drive with confidence so that they don't get away from you. These are by no means beginner skis and require an aggressive skiing style but will reward you with a very stable ride at speed. Their stiff tails provide a nice safety net if you happen to get into the back seat as they won’t punish you but rather help get you back on center. Their side cut and minimal waist allowed me to throw them around fairly easily from edge to edge and in tight-turn situations like bumps and trees. Any energy I put into them came right back thanks to the camber underfoot and their responsive nature, so short radius turns are easy to make—and make aggressively. I didn’t find the M-Pro 99 Skis hooky in the least with their tapered early rise tips able to track well at speed thanks to their hybrid core. A layer of Titanal integrated into most skis can make them feel stiff and like a lot of work, but not the M-Pro 99 Skis. While they ski like a much more burly ski the M-Pros at only 99 underfoot respond quite well edge-to-edge and last-minute changes in directions.

On longer radius turns the M-Pro 99 Skis felt strong and stable, thanks to their stiff tails with minimal early rise which adds a strong clean finish to every turn. Once you lay the M-Pro 99s on edge they bite into the snow, laying down a solid powerful turn into the snow with zero chance of washing out. Their straight taper and 22-meter turn radius help the skis track well and complete nice long arcs in the snow.

With substantially more rocker and taper in their tips than tails, the M-Pro 99 Skis makes easy work of soft chop and I was able to plow them through fairly easily without much deflecting. When the crud piles up or gets heavy is where I started to notice the ski's size as it struggled a little. Thankfully they are built on a platform with generous amounts of polyurethane so they dampen the ride as the terrain changes.

It’s good to note that these are not a ski that you can smear and slarve, those would be found in the M-Free line of skis. The M-Pro 99 Skis require a solid skier with advanced technique to take full advantage of their hard-charging ski-anywhere mentality. If this is you, then the M-Pro 99s are skis you should consider and if you are after a pure touring ski then take a look at our review of the M-Tour 99 Skis here.