hook 106 of the heel latching post 44 therefore vertical movement of the elongated plate 40 is thereby prevented which secures the boot 40 to the snowboard 20 pawl 102 is fixedly mounted by pins 108 to a sliding block 110 sliding block 110 is movably mounted within a longitudinal cut out 112 the longitudinal cut out 112 is formed within block 114 which is fixedly secured by pins 116 to the plate 30 the opposite side edge of the pawl 102 is fixedly mounted by pins 118 to a sliding block 120 sliding block 130 is mounted within a longitudinal cut out 122 which is formed within a block 124 which is fixedly mounted by pins 126 to the mounting plate 130 the amount of movement of the sliding blocks 110 and 120 is of course limited by the longitudinal lengths of their respective cut outs 112 and 122 the length of the cut outs 112 and 122 is selected so that the pawl 102 can be moved between the locking position shown in fig8 and the unlocking position shown in fig1 pawl 102 includes an internal cavity 128 within the cavity 128 is mounted a coil spring 130 the inner end of the coil spring 130 abuts against the pawl 102 with the rear end of the coil spring 130 abutting against the block 132 block 132 is fixedly mounted.