On Monday, September 30, 2013 7:32:10 AM UTC-4, Tim Hanke wrote:
We had a soaring encampment in Lake Placid, NY. We had a complaint from the Adirondack Park Rangers about a sailplane ridge soaring a particular set of mountains. The Ranger noted that the sailplane was in danger to hikers walking the ridge line. What FAR's allow the sailplane to stay a loft using the ridge as a source of lift? We stopped all ridge flying for now.

91.3 allows the pilot to deviate from any regulation to the extent required to address an emergency situation. Perhaps the pilot in question was ridge flying to avoid a landing in the trees.... Other than that I think the 500 foot rule applies.