やっと天狗原、そして白馬乗鞍岳の様子見に。

その天狗原への登山道は9割以上が露出。雪で登山道が分からなくなる心配はありません。天狗原から白馬乗鞍岳への登山道はまだまだ完全埋没。完全に雪の上を歩きます。

さて今日の予報は晴れ・・ということで上がってきたのですが、着いてみると雲が動いており真っ白け。まぁそういったタイミングなんだな、と受け入れて、長靴滑りだけを撮って帰ってまいりました。

さてその長靴滑り・・とか登山靴滑りなんですが、山案内人仲間の彼らがするのを観察して分かることは、ほぼ同じスタイルで降りてくることなんですね。

片足は身体の真下、そしてもう片足は身体の少し前。体重は当然、身体の真下の足に全部です。

と書くと真下の足に乗っていることにもなりますが、実は雪面に随時、脚を伸ばして押し付けています。押し付けてグリップさせて抵抗にしてるんですね。つまりはブレーキです。

そんな塩梅で器用にスルスルスル〜と直滑降。もちろん、カチカチの雪面ではない、という条件下にて。

僕はこのスタイルを見るたびに、ツダルスキーさんの古い写真を思い浮かべます。似ているな、と。そしてこうなるよなー、と。

革のローカットブーツだし。

まぁね。。

さて続いて撮ったのはB-tele的クロスオーバーです。

斜面で横向きに立っている状態から、靴底がズレ落ち始められればそれでよし。これがクロスオーバーです。

要は重い腰やお尻部分が斜面下方向に動けばよい。そのためには、つっかえ棒たる脚の距離が短くなれば良い。つまりは畳まれればよい。

クロスオーバーの前段階で脚が伸びていれば縮められる。

それだけのシンプルな動画です。

質問があったお客さんへの、動画での返答でした。

Finally made it up to Tenguhara and Mount Hakuba Norikura to check on the conditions.

More than 90% of the trail up to Tenguhara is already snow-free, so there's little chance of losing the trail under the snow. From Tenguhara to Mount Hakuba Norikura, however, the trail is still completely buried. From there on, you're walking entirely on snow.

Today's forecast called for sunshine, which is why I headed up. But by the time I arrived, clouds were moving through and everything was completely white. Well, that was simply the timing I got. I accepted it and came back with footage of only one thing: boot glissading.

Speaking of rubber boot glissadingーor hiking-boot glissading?one thing I've noticed from watching fellow mountain guides is that they all descend in almost exactly the same way.

One foot stays directly beneath the body, while the other is slightly forward. Naturally, all of the weight is on the foot beneath the body.

That description may sound as if they're simply standing on that foot, but in reality they're constantly extending the leg and pressing it into the snow. By pressing it down, they create grip and resistance.

In other words, they're braking.

That's how they manage to slide smoothly and skillfully straight downhill. Of course, this only works when the snow surface isn't rock hard.

Whenever I watch this style of movement, I find myself thinking of old photographs of Zdarsky. It looks familiar. And I can't help thinking, "Of course that's how it would turn out."

After all, those were low-cut leather boots.

Well... exactly.

The next clip I filmed was a B-tele style crossover.

If you're standing sideways on a slope and the soles of your boots begin to slip downhill, that's enough. That's the crossover.

The important thing is that the heavy part of the bodyーthe hips and seatーmoves downhill. For that to happen, the distance created by the legs acting as props has to become shorter. In other words, the legs have to fold.

If the legs are extended before the crossover begins, then they can be shortened.

That's all this simple video demonstrates.

It was my video response to a question from one of my guests.