Ollie Dutton is one of a handfull of UK riders making the transition onto the European scene. Usually one of the riders to watch at any rail contest but recently he has been getting praise for his video parts, whilst out filming for The Grindhouse. We caught up with Ollie as he headed home after a busy travelling season.

Sponsors: Howl, Analog, Dragon, Burton, Snozone MK

Hometown: Northampton, UK

You frequently spend your time in the UK domes, is that where you first learnt to ride?
Nah I first really learnt to snowboard in Canada when I was 18, but indoor was where I learnt to ride rails for sure.

 

Lots of guys in UK and The Netherlands from the domes are getting noticed in the international spectrum, what advantage do the domes offer over a regular park in the mountains?
You get to lap so much faster, 15 seconds down and a couple of minutes up. You get pretty comfortable with the rails I guess. Mountains are fun but you lap pretty slowly. Indoor is like hiking without being fucked when you get to the top.

You are known predominantly for your rail skills, do you ride kickers as well? Would you like to get more kickers on film?
I do like kickers, I don’t get to ride them much but there pretty fun. They have to be slushy though, can’t think of anything worse than an icy landing. I’m not really into the double/triple corks but slow lazy spins feel good, I think they look better too. I would like to film some backcountry kickers, just have really had the chance.

Do you ever get the chance to ride powder or are you mainly in the streets?
I got to ride a couple of days of powder in Morzine this year, but I don’t normally get the chance. I did a season in whistler when I was 19 and love riding powder, but nowadays we don’t really go to resorts, and if we do we go to Bear or somewhere were you wont find much powder. I prefer slushy laps in sunnies and a hoody, but I get excited to ride powder, as I don’t get to ride it often.

 

I heard the tattoo you got on your neck has a funny story behind it; didn’t you get it done in Hooters?
Haha, everyone brings this up. Yeah I woke up with it in Las Vegas. We went to Venice beach for St. Patrick’s day which was wild, and the next day some of our friends convinced us to drive to Vegas for a couple of nights. We stayed in Hooters, which has a tattoo studio on the ground floor. $1 beers was just asking for something to happen. I freaked out for like a week, but once I got use to it I liked it. We had the craziest couple of days so it’s a cool memory.

What did your mum say when she saw it?
Well it was my first tattoo so I kinda didn’t tell my mum for a month or so, we were staying in Tahoe so it was fine, but I felt I had to Skype her and show her. She was super cool about it; she likes it so it was all good. My dad wasn’t too stoked though ha.

Who rides better UK dome kids or Dutch dome kids?
I think the Dutch kids are dope; they are hard to try keep up with. The thing is Dutch kids can ride all day most days of the week. But in the UK we can only ride Thursday and Friday nights from 7pm -11pm. So it’s hard when your riding is limited. Would be so dope if we had permanent park or could ride all day.

You travel a lot with the Grindhouse crew, who is your favourite person to watch in that crew?
I like to watch all the guys. Trilliam Smith is always fun to watch, he is super stylish. Sparrow Knox is all about the hype and is crazy. He literally doesn’t give a fuck and does what he wants which is sick; he is fearless so it was good to watch him while filming this year. Gareth Andrews is for sure one of my favourites to watch. He has every trick, and does them with nice style. I ride with him most weeks back home at Milton Keynes, so we always have a good time and its fun to watch him ride.

https://vimeo.com/87034082

Outside of Grindhouse, which riders do you look up to?
All the Postland guys are good friends so they are definitely fun to ride with. They are all blowing up right now too, which is good to see. Otherwise all the Minnesota/1817 guys bring out edits that you have to watch over and over. If someone’s having fun with snowboarding then it makes me want to ride for sure.

How is your part looking for the upcoming release?
Ahhh it’s looking alright. We had a bit of shit season in Europe like most of the European crews. We spent a month in Helsinki while it rained, then snowed then rained. So it was hard this year and there was a lot more I wanted to film. Then I hurt my ankle in New York about 6 weeks ago so I’m chilling now. But there are some shots I filmed this year that I’m stoked on.

What is your goal in Snowboarding?
Keep travelling, meeting new people, seeing new places. Having fun laps with my friends, when I stop enjoying it, i’ll stop.



 

Follow Ollie Dutton on his Instagram here.

Index Photo: Will Smith

All riding shots: James North, http://jnorth.co.uk