Possibilities are;

- Weather (i.e. fog, rain) obscured the mountain. * Was fog seen
around this area at the time of the accident? * Could a microburst or
wave rotor create the same impact pattern?


No fog. Turbulent, yes. We flew that day at TAGARs (Truckee glider
race). While I can't vouch for the conditions at Mammoth, I am pretty
sure it was similar to Truckee. We had bright blue conditions at TRK
with SW winds 20kts increasing thoughout the day to 30kts in the BL.
I remember looking south in that direction and seeing nice Cus develop
in the afternoon in the 15k range thinking, forget the race, why
didn't I go south..it looks really good(ya I had no chance of
winning). Steve was flying earlier in the day so it was most likely
blue but the winds were probably there. I couldnt tell from the
documentary if he then landed with the wind.