I watched Tom Madigan fly into a ridge at a contest in Bishop California. There were three of us working a thermal East of Bishop. Those of you that have flown there know that you have to patiently work your way up to the top of the White Mountains by crawling stepwise up the western ridges, and then, when on top the going gets easy. It was a long task and so we launched early. Myself, Tom and Dr. Chuck Fisher were doing figure eights not far from the ridge. We were above the buttress and probably about 500 ft AGL so we could probably safely abandon our figure eights and start circling. Tom Was probably 100 feet below Chuck and I when I observed him turn toward the East to begin his circle. He appeared to sink into the ridge and at the last minute, he leveled his wings and pulled up. He came within a few feet of the top but failed to clear the terrain. I have an indelible memory of his water ballast bags flying out the leading edge of his wings and bursting on the rocks in front of the glider.
After making a few more turns I flew directly over the crash site to confirm the tail number before notifying contest ground. There was impressive sink just above the crash site and I assume it was there when Tom made his fatal turn toward the ridge. Chuck and I landed and, along with a local sheriff, hiked up to the crash site hoping that Tom was still alive. He was shoved up under the spar and appeared to have died instantly.
Once the convection gets going on the Bishop western ridges, there is a friendly push away from the terrain caused by the anabatic flow that sets up on most afternoons. We had been enjoying that push all week, and I suspect Tom counted on it being there on this day as well. The uphill breeze was present by the time we hiked up to the crash site, I think our early takeoff was a significant part of the setup for this accident.
The recent Ely accident,I understand, was also following an early launch.. It makes sense that early in the day thermals may stand away from the ridge, thus allowing the adjacent sink to dump onto the ridge, and then later they tend to hug the ridge after the anabatic winds gets established. Certainly Tom made a mistake, but how many of us have made that first circle toward rising terrain and when half way around, wished we had Done a few more figure eights. I’ve never fully regained my fearlessness since that incident 30 years ago. I give ridges a safe margin and then add a few hundred feet for wife and the kids.

Dale Bush