The 2024 Dynastar M-Free 118 is a pro model ski offering top-shelf freeride and powder performance to the best skiers on the planet. While the audience of the ski is on the small side, that’s about the only thing that’s small about it. Powder and pro-level freeride skis like this M-Free 118 do tend to have a narrow scope, but just like their racing or front side counterparts, where there’s a need, there’s a ski. For Dynastar, making this M-Free 118 is as easy as looking out their window into the Chamonix valley. What ski would they make that could possibly tame the legendary French alps? This is how we feel they talk about the ski in the drawing and planning room—certainly could be wrong about that. At the end of the day, though, if you’re going to be skiing these burly big mountains with bottomless snow and big drops all over the place, you need the proper ski on your feet. For most experts and pros that find themselves in this situation, the answer can most certainly be the Dynastar M-Free 118.

Built with a sturdy poplar core that blends energy and stability, Dynastar also adds their hybrid Polyurethane material to the mix as well as a fiberglass torsion box. By installing the PU into the sides of the ski, they’re adding smoothness and energy and a crazy amount of stability—very impressive how they’ve increased the amount of PU over the years into the build of the ski and the benefits that have come from that innovation. The torsion box basically takes the central poplar core and wraps it in fiberglass. Any time we’re using fiberglass in a bent or angled format like this, we’re seeing a big increase in the stiffness and responsiveness. Additionally, it adds to the durability of the product, which is a good thing if you’re skiing aggressively. Heavy skis are stable skis, and while the M-Free 118 sits on the scale at 2350 grams in the 189, the profile makes it feel a bit more maneuverable than that gargantuan weight may let on.

With measurements of 145-118-135, this ski has a lot of surface area. This ski will not sink, basically anywhere on the planet. Those numbers equate to a long 24-meter turn radius in the 189, providing skiers with more room to shape and dictate the duration and style of the turn. This makes for a smoother ski, especially when you’re encountering the fall line and using it as a direct path from top to bottom. There’s quite a bit of taper in the shovel—more so for sure than in the tail, and the rocker in both ends is ample and somewhat dramatic. The curve to this ski makes it one of the better floaters out there, amenable and capable of staying on top of truly bottomless snow. Since the shovels are a bit sharper in shape than the tails, the ski cuts through crud and chop with ease and power. This is a rare combination of attributes for this type of product.

We’re seeing this M-Free 118 at the highest levels of freeride competition, and it makes a lot of sense when you consider what is needed in these zones. As such, this isn’t a ski for everyone—there's a small market here, but for those skiers that need something like this, it’s a great tool for the job at hand. It just so happens that the job is one of the most fun and interesting ones on the planet, especially for us avid skiers.