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Hey! I'm glad you asked! Snowskating is a phenomenon that arose like 20 years ago when people started mounting skis to the bottom of their skateboards. Teams, comps, and commercially produced boards came about 10 years ago. In the last 3 years, Hovland Snowskates (shootout to my sponsses) started going to SIA and rolled out a widespread marketing program that finally brought some visibility and legitimacy to the sport. That's kind of why everyone has suddenly started seeing them everywhere.
As far as products go, there are many many unique small batch skates out there, but they generally fit into one of these categories:
Single decks for street.
Small skateboard size and feel decks for park.
Medium bidirectional for park/piste.
Large directional with a spoon shaped ski sticking out of one end for piste/powder.
Giant directional skate basically mounted on a full sized monoski for slashing powder.
Everyone on em tends to be a shred dork who specializes in a specific discipline of shredding, so their snowskate style tends to reflect an extreme end of that:
Snowboarders doing extra hard binding-less snowboarding; powsurfers doing their float thang inbounds cause they're allowed in resorts; transition skaters kickturning park hips and catwalk side hits all day; rail enthusiasts sessioning nothing but boxes and handrails on their 5oh!s. And then you got people like myself, who ride to feel like we're fkn 4-wheel tech sliding 58a's down Pike's Peak in the rain. Also me are a few skiers turned snowskaters who are obsessed with challenging themselves everyday, and there is nothing more difficult than snowskating steep bumps and steep glades. To go pro, you gotta be really good at all the styles and so ridiculously good at your signature style that it seems like you're doing groundbreaking shit.
Pro snowboarders have been getting really into them and rapidly growing the sport because they're typically skaters in the off season, and there is no pressure or tribalism on a snowskate. They get to just ride for themselves and have fun.
Shit I could talk ALL DAY about them, and feel free to ask questions, but here's some photos:
5oh! Park skate
Buckshot, Libtech, and Florida Powderskate coming up Highline Ridge for a blower 14" of Taos steeps.
My slalom buddy that just straight up tip tucks at like 60mph all the time.
Jeremy Jones and Terje Hakonson used to rip Buckshots, but they produced their own pro models out of the Jones and Burton assembly lines. They release next year.
