REASONS TO BUY
Optimized weight and performance
REASONS TO AVOID
Slightly poor firm snow performance
Dynastar M-Tour 99 F-Team Open Review
All-around, solid skis for all kinds of soft and poor-snow backcountry skiing
Dynastar M-Tour 99 F-Team Open
Credit: Dynastar
RELATED: Best Backcountry Skis of 2024
Our Verdict
The Dynastar M-Tour 99 F Team is a great all-around, all-purpose ski for self-propelled adventuring in mountains and snow of all kinds. Its performance is well-balanced and can be pressed into literally every backcountry or ski mountaineering situation we can envision. If we could improve anything, it would be the firm snow performance; it just comes up a bit short on the hardest snow in serious situations.
Editor's Note: We tested the 2021-22 version of the M-Tour 99 in the latter portion of the 21-22 ski and ski expedition season in North America. For 22-23, the topsheet graphic and branding has changed. As best we can tell, the performance of the new version will be the same as the "F Team" model available now.
Compare to Similar Products
 This Product
Dynastar M-Tour 99 F-Team Open | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards |  | |  |  | |
| Price | $552.47 at Backcountry Compare at 3 sellers | $899.95 at Backcountry Compare at 2 sellers | Check Price at REI Compare at 2 sellers | $800 List $799.95 at Evo | $536.99 at Amazon Compare at 2 sellers |
Overall Score  |
|||||
| Star Rating | |||||
| Bottom Line | If your backcountry skiing takes you to mainly soft snow, these are a great choice | This relatively wide all-season ski is one of our favorites and great for all-around human-powered use | A high-performance, all-around backcountry ski for all types of wild skiing | Heavier skis that offer meaningful performance on the downhill, ideal for newer backcountry skiers or for experts who don't mind trading a bit of efficiency for a bit more fun | This affordable pair is great for a wide range of human-powered skiers and mountain conditions, with proven all-season downhill performance |
| Rating Categories | Dynastar M-Tour 99... | Blizzard Zero G 105 | Atomic Backland 100 | Salomon QST Echo 106 | K2 Wayback 106 |
| Weight (25%) | |||||
| Firm Snow (20%) | |||||
| Powder (20%) | |||||
| Crud and Poor Snow (20%) | |||||
| Stability at Speed (15%) | |||||
| Specs | Dynastar M-Tour 99... | Blizzard Zero G 105 | Atomic Backland 100 | Salomon QST Echo 106 | K2 Wayback 106 |
| Weight Per Pair (lbs) | 6 | 6.7 | 5.9 | 7.8 | 6.9 |
| Weight Per Pair (g) | 2731 | 3025 | 2661 | 3557 | 3075 |
| Weight Per Ski (g) | 1360, 1371 Average: 1366 |
1515, 1510 Average: 1513 |
1338, 1323 Average 1331 |
1784, 1773 Average 1779 |
1518, 1557 Average: 1537 |
| Weight Per Surface Area Ratio (g/cm²) | 0.68 | 0.72 | 0.64 | 0.8 | 0.71 |
| Measured Length (cm) | 177 | 178 | 178 | 180 | 179 |
| Manufacturer Claimed Length (cm) | 178 | 180 | 180 | 181 | 179 |
| Available Lengths (cm) | 162, 170, 178, 186 | 164, 172, 180, 188 | 164, 172, 180, 180 | 157, 165, 173, 181, 189 | 172, 179, 186 |
| Measured Dimensions (mm) | 127/98/116 | 133/104/118 | 129/100/119 | 140/105/125 | 135/107/123 |
| Manufacturer Claimed Dimensions (mm) | 127/99/117 | 133/105/118 | 130/100/120 | 136/106/123 | 136/106/124 |
| Construction Type | Sandwich | Sandwich | Dura Cap Sidewall | Sandwich | Sandwich Cap Hybrid |
| Core Material | Paulownia | Paulownia | Poplar and Caruba | Poplar and Caruba | Paulownia |
| Waist Width (mm) | 98 | 105 | 100 | 105 | 107 |
| Radius (m) | 20 | 23 | 19 | 16 | 22 |
| Rocker/Camber | Tip and tail rocker, camber underfoot | Tip and tail rocker | Tip and tail rocker, camber underfoot | Tip and tail rocker, camber underfoot | Tip rocker, slight camber underfoot |
Show full specification details ▼Hide full specification details ▲
Our Analysis and Test Results
Dynastar's M-Tour 99 F Team is the latest iteration in a line of this French company's all-around, all-conditions ski touring stick. We greatly enjoyed its neutral performance across a wide range of conditions. It inspired such confidence that our lead test and accomplished expedition ski guide Jed Porter chose to use it on a standard-setting guided expedition on Denali during our test period. Much of what we report is based on his experience on that significant and serious trip.
Performance Comparison
Lead Test Editor Jed Porter around 12,000 feet on Denali. The Dynastar M-Tour handled the choppy, "sastrugi" snow with predictable (if slow) turns.
Credit: Jediah Porter
Weight
The Dynastar M-Tour 99, as tested in size 178cm, weighs 1366 grams per ski. That's 2731 grams or 6 lbs for the pair. This "weight point" is what we have long concluded is the sweet spot for all-around, self-propelled backcountry skiing. Many of our favorite skis in the past 10 years have weighed between 1200 and 1400 grams.
You can go heavier and get slightly better downhill ski performance, but efficiency suffers on the way uphill. Any lighter than 1200-1300 grams, and the downhill ski performance suffers with every lost gram. It is no coincidence that our favorite tested skis are in this weight range. The Dynastar strikes a great balance. You could go lighter, but it wouldn't be worth it for most skiers.
The M-Tour 99's dimensions hit the sweet spot for varied, all-around, human-powered skiing. You might want different dimensions at the resort, but all the criteria balance differently in the wild.
Credit: Jediah Porter
Firm Snow
Our team found the Dynastar M-Tour 99 F Team to be "good enough" in hard, icy snow. In friendlier firm snow (corn conditions, for one), they are a dream. Where the snow got truly icy (like we found, for instance, high on Denali in historically dry and firm conditions), we clearly survived on the M Tour 99 but also found ourselves wishing for greater edge hold. It is hard to attribute edge hold to any particular design or materials attribute, but we got enough mileage to be confident in our conclusion. Other available products in this weight class will grab better on icy snow. Our test experience included descending directly from the Denali summit on the hardest of wind-blown snow and, lower down, skiing a few inches of snow over blue ice.
Expedition skiing is both the same and very different from your typical day trip outing. Skiing is skiing, and skiing is awesome. However, expedition skiing is at least a little more serious and a lot more varied than typical days out.
Credit: Jediah Porter
Powder
We skied a little bit of really deep snow and tons of shallower, fast-n-fresh stuff with the Dynastar M-Tour 99 F Team. In all our experiences with powder snow, the Dynastar 99 served us well. The light construction and relatively narrow profile (narrow, that is, for soft snow) doesn't blast powder like bigger products will, but the light form factor allows for greater energy savings on the way up for good to great performance on the way down in powder.
The Dynastar M-Tour 99 shreds fresh snow very well. We especially like that it does so without weighing you down on the way uphill.
Credit: Jediah Porter
Crud/Poor Snow
The poor snow performance of this Dynastar M- Tour is especially good for the weight. The centered, dampened flex profile seems to help with predictable edging and flotation in breakable crust and sloppy "mashed potatoes". More mass would help even further, but at the expense of efficiency. Poor snow performance, more than any other attribute of a backcountry ski, is a balancing act. One of the greatest determinants of poor snow performance, in our experience, is weight. More weight works better in poor snow. If we were to graph our anecdotal experience with poor snow performance against ski weight, that line would start to plateau around 1200 grams.
The low weight of the Dynastar M-Tour 99 is greatly appreciated under extensive workloads.
Credit: Jediah Porter
Stability at Speed
Rail 'em as you like, within reason. The familiar Dynastar dampening factor (other tested skis from this company have skied relatively damp — that is, not especially springy) comes to the M-Tour 99 and grants continuity to any particular high-speed skiing. With this ski, the speed limit will likely (or, more accurately, should) come from the consequences of crashing in the backcountry more than ski comfort at that speed. Other skis might inspire even more confidence, but nothing about that ski or confidence changes the fact that crashing at 40mph in the wilderness is a bad idea.
The best ski day of our Denali expedition was the first day we skied from 17,000 down to 14,000 feet. We did so via the spectacularly steep and exposed "Sunshine Face" route and found thin fresh snow over blue ice. You can see the blue tint in the lower right of this photo.
Credit: Jediah Porter
Should You Buy the Dynastar M-Tour 99 F Team?
Yes, we recommend this ski. The breadth of potential applications of this product is significant. Most will have one pair of skis for human-powered skiing, and these Dynastars (or any of our Editors' Choice or Best Buy winners) are perfectly suited for this "quiver of one" approach. Even if you can justify more than one pair of backcountry skis, the Dynastar M-Tour fits in your quiver. This is the ski you choose for the Haute Route, for an Alaskan expedition, for a month in Chile, or that fantastical "work from home" season in Chamonix.
The tested Dynastar M-Tour 99 at 17,000 feet on Denali.
Credit: Jediah Porter
What Other Backcountry Skis Should You Consider?
In this same sub-category of backcountry skis, your choices are great. If the all-around high performance of the Dynastar M-Tour 99 is appealing, you will also do well with the Black Crows Camox, Blizzard Zero G 105, K2 Wayback 106, or DPS Pagoda Tour 100. This list could go on and on. All around backcountry skis right now are very, very good, almost entirely across the board. You get to shop by brand loyalty, price, availability, and color.
The shape and materials of skis matter, but what really matters is how they feel. Further, ski design is so complex that attributing performance attributes to any specific design matters is more guesswork than it is informed.
Credit: Jediah Porter
—
Jediah Porter
You Might Also Like
