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Skiboarding is a winter sport which combines inline skating and skiing. Skiboards are generally under 100 centimeters, symmetrical, twin tipped, and very wide. In addition, they generally have non-release bindings very similar to snowboard hard-boot bindings. However, skiboards are now in the market which feature ski-like releasable bindings, and lengths upto 120cm.
The sport is often, and incorrectly, called snowblading or skiblading. "Snowblades" are a trademark of Salomon. There is uncertainty about who invented the first true skiboard. Jason Levinthal of Line, Mark Merkel of the now defunct Powder Company, and Micheal Canon formerly of Canon Skiboards all started producing skiboards around 1994. After skiboarding started to become popular, French ski company Salomon released their version of skiboards in response to skiboarding's popularity and experiments such as Atomic's Shorties and Kneissl's Big Feet.
Skiboarding quickly grew in popularity, and soon larger ski companies such as Salomon, K2, etc. started to produce skiboards. This made it hard for many smaller companies like Journey and Imperial to compete, so they were forced bankrupt.
As skiboarding grew, many skiers wanted to do skiboard style tricks without using smaller skis. This caused the development of twin tip skis. Skiing is a very traditional sport, and skiers everywhere used twin tips as a way to draw attention away from skiboarding. Skiing had a much larger base at this time and much more money.
Skiboarding was replaced with skiing in the X-games, a hard hit to the United Skiboard Series (USS). Professional skiboarders no longer had a forum to compete, and several professional skiboarders including Mike Nick, Iannick B., and Nicky Adams switched to freestyle skiing. The lack of professional circuit caused skiboarding to drop in popularity around 2001.
Since then, skiboarding has been growing a steady following. Skiboarding is easier to learn than skiing, so many people with little or no experience in snow sports can use it as an easy way to get down the slopes. There has also been a group of dedicated riders promoting the sport. Skiboards can also be used as a tool to learn skiing, or as a change of pace for advanced skiers. The short length and sidecut of skiboards makes them easy to turn, but they may lack stability at higher speeds.
In 2004, White Dwarf, a skiboarding video by Bentfilms, was released. This video was the first to highlight the technical possibilities of skiboarding separating it from skiing and showcased the talents of many new riders.