How To Nollie

Nollies are the Backwards-ville version of an Ollie, in other words, an Ollie in reverse. Before learning the Nollie, if you haven't learned to Ollie yet, you should start with our How To Ollie Tutorial.

Are you beyond Ollie's and Nollie's? Start putting them to work with our Spins Tutorial Series.(Narrating/Riding: Nev Lapwood, Filming/Editing: Vince Emond.)

A Nollie is essentially a nose Ollie and used primarily for style and specifically for some rail tricks and the Tamedog Front Flip. 

You'll want to start out practicing Nollie's on flat ground, shifting your weight over the nose of your board, in a nose press position. Use this tension in your board to spring up evenly into the air with both feet. 

 Nev getting that balance and flex in the front of his board

Just as you are using both feet to spring up into the air, you'll want to land with your weight evenly distributed between both feet. Same as Ollies, the more flex you get in your board the higher you will be able to Nollie. Essentially you want to conserve your energy while utilizing the energy in your board. 

It's tempting to land on your tail out of a Nollie but it is best to absorb the landing evenly between both feet. A trick here is to shift a little of your weight to your back foot before leaning into the nose of your board. It will help you Nollie higher and have the air time to position yourself for an even landing.

  
Maximum Nollie height for a proper landing

Now let's talk about timing, while most things about Nollies are very similar to Ollies, timing is a little different. You are flexing into the front of your board versus the back and therefore need to initiate the Nollie earlier than you would an Ollie. You can use the same timing techniques we talked about in our Ollie tutorial, of putting a snowball or some form of place-marker on the ground and aim to Nollie over it.

 
Timing is everything

With this earlier timing don't worry if you end up hitting the snowball a couple of times before you figure out the timing.

Similar to the Ollie, Nollies are perfect for airing over rollers and off knuckles. The slight uphill gives you an easier setting to load pressure into the front of your board and spring off of. Plus you get more float and hang time with that smooth and cruisey runout.  

 
Whoa Nollie!

Where will your new skill take you? 

Hannah Paquette
Snowboard Addiction
Our Goal Is To Improve Your Riding