Kengo Moriyama

A Man Fascinated by Avalanches

Kengo Moriyama, a Goldwin ambassador, oversees avalanche risk management at Happo-One Ski Resort in Hakuba, Japan, and spends his days dealing with the dangers associated with avalanches. He was the head of risk management in the international mountain ski competition in Hakuba, and is known as an expert in the field of avalanche risk management.
An “avalanche'” is a “natural phenomenon” in which snow that has fallen on a mountain slope is no longer able to accumulate for some reason and collapses. Any ski resorts are at risk if the snow that accumulates every day is left unattended. And that is why ski resorts hire experts like Moriyama to control the occurrence of avalanches and prevent disasters before happening.
In addition to his daily work, Kengo Moriyama is actively engaged in avalanche education activities, leads a study group by an experts called “Hakuba Avalanche Learning Center,” and hosts “Search and Rescue Courses” for general skiers and mountaineers.

“First of all, I want to minimize the number of avalanche accidents. This is the bottom line because I don't want any accident happening to myself, to my friends, or to anyone of course. And at the same time, I also want to dig deeper into the essence of avalanches. That’s why I try to engage in a variety of activities."
Moriyama tells us that avalanche-risk management is a “fight with avalanches” while he describes how he “want(s) to dig deeper into the essence of avalanches.” He explains that the avalanche itself, which occurs as a natural phenomenon, has an undeniable beauty that fascinates people.
“I think the typical impression is that the avalanches are scary, people lose their lives in it and all. However, I believe that's the impression we get after accidents happen. We see avalanches as dangerous because we involve ourselves in them. Watching an avalanche that flows like a river is freightneng, but I also see it as beautiful. It’s true that the more I learn about avalanches, the more fascinated I become with them.

The Essence of Avalanches

What exactly does Kengo Moriyama mean by “Dig(ging) deeper into the essence of avalanches”?
One is to figure out the mechanism of avalanches. For this reason, he frequently visits and investigates naturally occurring avalanches whenever he receives information about it happening at a nearby mountain.
How and why did this avalanche happen? In order to investigate its mechanism, a snow pit must be created to examine what type of snow has accumulated to form its snow layer. The thickness and hardness of the snow, the temperature of the snow, the solidity of layers, and shapes of the snow crystals that make up those layers; you become more skilled and experienced by continuing to keep records of such. There’s no need for an explanation that those knowledge and skills put him at the frontline in the feild of “avalanche risk management.” But even before that, “avalanches” are an “object of interest” for him and how he finds communication with nature.
While Moriyama gets the “researcher” look on his face as he investigates the snow layer in the middle of a snowstorm, he also has a look of a “young boy.” The notebook he uses in the snow is filled with records of such reasearches.

Kengo Moriyama talks about the wonders of natural cultivation with innocent eyes like a young boy. One of his passionate activities in the summer is called “School of Rice.” It is an initiative in which he shares the knowledge of natural cultivation techniques he has accumulated over the years to help people who want to start growing rice naturally.
First of all, chemical fertilizers and pesticides are used to stabilize crop production by promoting (or suppressing) the growth of rice and prevents weeds and pests from emerging. So, a natural cultivation that does not use those can simply be said as “the difficult method” for growing rice. The idea of ​​natural cultivation is not that crops grow on their own by leaving them alone; rather, assuring the production of a certain yield without relying on chemical fertilizers or pesticides by investing in time and effort to take care of crops. That is the natural cultivation Kengo Moriyama believes in, and “School of Rice” is the place to learn it.
That said, what actually is necessary to grow crops without using pesticides or chemical fertilizers? One of the members who attended the “school of Rice” told us that he learned something improtant from him.
“I noticed that Mr. Moriyama was really carefully observing the crop and rice fields. He tought me knowing what to do, when to do, and how to do can only be obtained by religiously watching the rice fields.”

Listening to the Voice of Nature

He studies the weather and snowfall every day to manage avalanches in the winter; and he observes the growth of rice in the rice fields in the summer. As he spends his days exposed to nature throughout the year, he believes listening to the voice of nature is the key in both of his jobs.
“My avalanche teacher was Ryuzo Wakabayashi, who passed away last December. He told me that he can hear the voice of trees and snow. I had to ask what he meant by that and was tought that if I really dug deep into it, nature would start speaking to me. I didn't quite understand the true meaning of his statement at that time, but as I continued to explore avalanches, I began to experience that I too could hear the voices of nature. For instance, I sometimes predict an avalanche that wouldn’t have otherwise been noticed just by looking at records and data, only by sensing something suspicious. Events like this made me realize that we can hear the voice of nature little by little through repetitive hypothesis, verification, and prediction.”
Of course, neither the trees nor the snow can actually speak. It sure is difficult to understand how to "listen to the voice of nature" in reality. However, if we look at it differently, it could be said that every human lives by receiving messages from nature. Waking up in the morning to sunlight or preparing an umbrella on a cloudy day for instance, can be said to be a way of receiving messages from nature. It may not be possible for ordinary people to predict an avalanche or to grow fine crops without relying on pesticides or chemical fertilizers like him. But listening to the voice of nature is something everyone can do. In fact, it may even have been a natural thing for us humans.