This is such a basic, fundamental trick – it’s literally the trick every other trick is based on – that I’m embarrassed to admit I spent my first four seasons of snowboarding doing it dead wrong. Follow these easy steps and take the intellectual leap so you don’t look as stupid as I did.

Here’s the Reader’s Digest version:
Doing an ollie is not simply jumping up and down. Jumping up and down is, well, just jumping up and down. In fact, jumping up and down makes you look more like a spastic bunny rabbit than Shaun White. To properly ollie, you take advantage of the inherent springiness of your snowboard and use that to propel you higher than you could hope to jump alone.

You’ll probably want to practice this standing still first before you throw one down in the middle of a black diamond mogul run.

1. Stand on your board in your natural stance (make sure you’re buckled in BTW).

2. Flex your board by bending your knees and driving your weight down. Done correctly, this will flatten out the camber of your board; you’ll feel this as “pressure” (it’ll almost feel like your board is pushing back up at you).

3. Immediately (so you don’t lose the spring) begin the “jump” – raise your front foot up first, then your rear foot. Your rear foot comes up to straighten you out in the air.

If you did the first part correctly but didn’t bring your back foot up, you get a neat-o corking effect like Roald here:

Really cool looking, but it’s not an ollie proper. In an ollie you’re “balanced” (or “flat”) in the air, like this:

Remember, bring that back foot up!

4. Staying balanced over your board, soften your knees to prepare for the landing. As you land, bend your knees a little more to absorb the force of landing. Ride away like you don’t even give a ship.

Whew! An exhaustive treatment, I know, but very necessary – a house is only as strong as its foundation, and having a solid ollie is the foundation for getting big airs, spins, etc.

To recap:

1. Get balanced on your board.
2. Bend your knees and push into the ground.
3. Jump. Pick the front foot up first, then the back foot.
4. Stay balanced in the air, bend your knees upon landing.
5. Ride some more.

Okay, now head up to the slopes and kick some ass! It’s supposed to be a lovely weekend up here in the Northeast…

:E