How to Do an Ollie on a Snowboard

Some people ride snowboards to enjoy the mountains and the ski trails. Other people are drawn to the snowboard parks and the many different tricks that can be done on a board. Anyone interested in tricks should know how to do an ollie on her snowboard because it's the basis of most other tricks and jumps. Read on to learn more.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Do an Ollie on a Snowboard

1. Start going down an easy trail at a moderately slow speed. Check around you to make sure you won't fall into any other skiers or snowboarders if you mess up.

2. Bend down with your knees. The slower you go, the more power you'll have to do a higher ollie.

3. Lean back just a little bit to raise the nose of the snowboard off of the ground. As soon as the nose is up, be sure to jump up. The combination of your speed, the nose in the air and the power in your legs should be enough to get you a couple of inches off of the ground.

4. Bend your legs a little bit in the air. You need to land with your legs bent a little to absorb some of the impact. This step becomes more important as you make higher ollies.

5. Try to ollie off of small bumps and lips in the trail once you've gotten some practice. Notice that these little jumps throw you higher into the air. Your speed also contributes more to your height when you ollie off of jumps.

6. Remember to land flat on the snowboard. If you land an ollie on the tail or nose of the board, you're more likely to fall or damage your snowboard.

Tips & Warnings

• You need to practice doing an ollie on your snowboard on flat trails and at slow speeds. It's important to get a feeling for how to land ollies before you start trying for higher air.

• Sometimes you don't even have to do an ollie to get off the ground. If you hit a jump going fast enough you'll naturally be tossed up in the air.

• It's a good idea to learn to ollie while riding fakie if you're serious about learning more advanced tricks.

• You should always wear a helmet when skiing or snowboarding. It's even more important to have a helmet once you start learning to ollie and do other tricks.

• Always bend your knees to ease the impact of an ollie or jump. If you don't bend your knees, you're much more likely to hurt them.