Mark James Boyd wrote:

I think of unplanned outlandings in the same way I think of
running out of gas in a power plane.

When soaring, unplanned outlandings are part of the game. Running out of
gas definitely is not.

For different glider pilots, I think different types of
"outlandings" may be an emergency or may be an "abnormal" procedure.

For glider pilots, an outlanding is neither an emergency nor an abnormal
procedure. It is a perfectly normal procedure that you have been trained
for. If it's not, you've got a lousy training and are not ready for
cross country, period.

Stefan