Stemme strikes an unmarked mountain cable while ridge-soaring

Both occupants were injured and the glider destroyed when a wing struck an unmarked cable as the pilot ridge-soared a mountain face. Flying the area for the first time and following a local glider lower on the way back, he tracked below the ridgeline close to the cliff, where the refuge and pylon the cable ran to were out of sight. The wing hit the cargo-hauler cable, strung about 120 m above the ground; the glider was destabilised, spun and struck the wooded slope. The cable's markers had been removed years earlier on official advice, and it appeared only in an optional obstacle database the pilot did not hold.

1. Ridge-soaring a mountain face: On his first flight in the area, the pilot was ridge-soaring the face of a mountain with a passenger, following a local glider.
2. Flew low below the ridgeline: On the way back he tracked below the ridgeline, close to the cliff, where the refuge and pylon the cable ran to were out of sight.
3. Unmarked cable across the slope: A cargo-hauler cable, strung about 120 m above the ground, crossed his path; its markers had been removed years earlier on official advice.
4. Wing hit the cable: The wing struck the cable and the glider was destabilised.
5. Spun into the wooded slope: The glider spun and struck the wooded slope; both occupants were injured and the glider destroyed.