Dynastar Mythic Rider Review

The Rider:
5'10" yep, 50 years has lost me an inch.
190lbs, pretty fit for an old dude.
Skiing last 6 seasons, maybe 150 days in. Yes, you ski better than me.
Typical terrain skied: Mammoth

Skis I like: Anything in the mid 180's. Recent skis owned: 178 Nordica Nitrous, 187 Movement Thunders, 191 Movement Goliaths, 195 Praxis Powders.

The 07/08 season was an epiphany for me, when I finally rode some 187 Bluehouse Districts? Rather than the usual 170 Volkl, the guy at the ski shop sold me. I loved the stability of the longer ski, but still wasn't a fan of the District, so I did some research and was pointed to the Thunders.

The Thunders were a lot for me to handle at first, but my skiing in 12 months has improved tremendously from riding those as my daily ski. Bummer is, I wore the bases out pretty quick, as they took a small core shot and I discovered the bases are really thin, so I searched for a replacement ski.

In steps the 08/09 184 Dynastar Mythic Rider Fluid. I bought these because they are the same side cut (122-88-110) as the Thunders and the same turn radius at 23m. I rode those 3 days last week at Mammoth. Conditions were left over firm pow, up to pole deep in spots to groomed faces and everything in between. The snow condition was as good as it gets, except for untracked pow on the whole mountain. That said, I was able to ride these skis in a variety of conditions and I was really pleasantly surprised at how well they skied everything I threw at them. I did not ski them on anything icy, but the edge hold is so good on these, I can't imagine them not working well under those conditions. (Edit) Actually, I did ski them on the icy, wind blasted track from the top of chair 23 down to the Wipeout Shoots and they held on fine. I mention the edge hold as it was very evident when railing groomers or coming down steep sections. My edges really held on to the chalky, dry, Sierra Cement in the steeps while turning. Riding these through softer cut up snow to firmer wind blown hard crust off piste snow was incredible. These skis are firm/stiff IMO. They go right through soft cut up snow and don't really get that deflected or bumped off of the harder wind blown, off piste conditions at the top of the mountain. Sunday, the top of the mountain was a combination of wind scoured, hard off piste, that was tracked out, but filled in with wind buff. Normally, the hard snow at the top intimidates the crap out of me. I was so stoked how well the skis easily initiated my turns and held onto the firm conditions, while at the same time were just so smooth and smeary feeling in the wind buff sections. I did a few runs off the top I never tried before because of the confidence I had in the skis feel. I even found a spot of day old pow that was compacted down from the sun, but pole deep and these went through it no problem. I would think in light UT pow, you could just blow through up to 8"-12" inches of snow before getting out your powder boards with these. In CA, the snow is heavier, so maybe 6"-8" before you want a wider ski. Or at least that is what I would do. The float was surprisingly good for what I think is a relatively stiff ski.
I know I have found my new daily ski. I still think the Thunders are a great ski, as they feel lighter than the MR and also feel faster edge to edge, but they do get bounced off/deflected on the firm hard conditions I ski at Mammoth more than the MR's do. The MR's are much more solid feeling at speed over the off piste sections of Mammoth than the Thunders are. Neither ski has a speed limit, I could detect and I was going fast on some groomed sections. However, it is in the off piste where the Mythic Rider really stood out IMO. The ski just gave me a great feeling of being in control in parts of the mountain and in conditions I previously got kind of sketch out in. I am really looking forward to hitting the last parts of the mountain that have scared me off up to this point. Hopefully with these on, I can sack up and do it in the next season or two.:redface:

Where did you mount them? I just picked up a pair off Gear Swap and will see how they do.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by harpo-the-skier

Where did you mount them? I just picked up a pair off Gear Swap and will see how they do.

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Mine came with the Fluid binding system which supposedly makes them a little stiffer and makes it very easy to mount on the line. All my bindings are set on a 9 din, so the px 12 bindings work great so far and look purty.

Btw: add your comments here after you have rode them a bit. I would be curious to know what you think, as there wasn't much here on this ski when I bought them.

I've only taken a couple of runs on Mythic Riders. They felt a lot like the old Inspireds to me. My impression was that they liked to be skied centered and didn't really care for much forward pressure. Very easy to turn though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vets

I've only taken a couple of runs on Mythic Riders. They felt a lot like the old Inspireds to me. My impression was that they liked to be skied centered and didn't really care for much forward pressure. Very easy to turn though.

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Good comment on the forward pressure, as you are correct, the MR's do not require the same amount of forward pressure that the Thunders do, to do the same type of turn. On the Thunders, it would feel like if I wasn't really on the forward pressure, I was quickly in the back seat, so you really had to pay attention. The Mythic Riders are not like that.

I've been on these for the last 10 days straight. I'm pretty much in love with them. I've heard them called Junior Legend Pros but to me they feel much more like a baby version of the XXL, crazy as that may sound. I think it's the softer tip.
There's an ebay seller in Ontario Canada that has last year's, with PX14 lifters for $400. That's where I got mine.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 5B

I've been on these for the last 10 days straight. I'm pretty much in love with them. I've heard them called Junior Legend Pros but to me they feel much more like a baby version of the XXL, crazy as that may sound. I think it's the softer tip.
There's an ebay seller in Ontario Canada that has last year's, with PX14 lifters for $400. That's where I got mine.

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A big thanks to 5B for suggesting the MR to me in my other thread. I went with this years model, as REI had them for $450 + tax and I liked this years graphics better. I have never rode the XXL or Legend Pro, so no comments on the feel compared to the MR. The tip of the MR does seem a little stiffer than my Thunders and the Thunders have a rep for being real stiff underfoot with a progressive softening of the tip and tail as you get out from boot center.

Been skiing a pair quite a bit the last 2 seasons, they rail pretty hard long as they have room to run. Also handle just about any kind of snow beautifully (except for deep pow obviously), edging like a dream. Love taking them into open bowls and just cutting loose. Solid construction too, I've had some decent hits with only minor damage on the base to show for it. Was able to break the toe piece of my px 12 (last years model) off and the MRs held up just fine. Don't know what that says about the bindings but the skis are bombproof.

just to add a few things to this as i've already put in quite a few good words on the 178, but i never actually bought them. in any case, i bought some 177 g3 reverends this wknd to mount w/ freerides as a spring chuting/touring ski and got them super cheap. shop screwed up the mount and then trying to fix it, completely destroyed the ski. problem was i was leaving at 6 a.m. for a 6 hour uphill monster slog and now didn't have a touring ski. the only other thing that was there that i was up for was a 184 mythic rider so i just told him to mount those up. obviously these were waaay heavier than the g3s, but i've always liked the 178 and figured these would do.

after a painful but fun skin (with an insanely gorgeous view of the whole mont blanc arena), got to finally let these babies run in perfect spring corn turning to much and they just killed everything both at speed and in tight turns in the colouir. i can't say i'm dying to hoof them up 2000m+ vert again, but i will say that they'll be my daily driver cause they're just so good over such a broad range. on a side note, i have 184 pro riders too and they aren't as stiff as these, i think the 184 is measurably stiffer than the 178 mythic.

Apologize as this is probably covered elsewhere...
How does the 178 Mythic Rider compare to the 178 8800 from 2 years ago (06/07)?
Is MR slightly stiffer?

definitely stiffer and damper with better edgehold without giving up hardly any quickness. all around it's a far superior ski.

where have folks been mounting the 184s.

I mount mind dead on the line with freerides, being a directional ski, not much variation on mount. I skied them again on GM yesterday in everything from ice to chopped powder and heavy crud and they worked great on all fronts. In deeper snow they provided a bit of float, but on the steeps, the tips weren't so long that they weren't coming around. Great every day ski for the mountain for which it was designed.

I picked some of these in 172cm up with PX12 as my "piste" and "woods" ski on a super deal. They are great on all terrain; I threw everything at them the first day. They are heavy but that is good training for lighter AT gear for the mountains....