The up and down sides of rotors relative to ridges

Mulling over a wave flight from last October and realized that I'd gotten it into my head (perhaps erroneously) that the up (lift) side of rotor is usually closer to the upwind ridge than the down side (sink) of the rotor. So for example, if I persist in heading closer towards the slope/ridge while in the downside of rotor, that I have a good chance of hitting the up side (lift) of the rotor. In other words, the sink side of the rotor is farther away from the upwind ridge than the lift side.

Now I realize that this situation is chaotic, anything can happen, and that before AGL gets tight, I'd better turn away from the slope and use the tailwind to hastily penetrate the sink that I just flew through and try for the secondary rotor, downwind ridge lift, or land.

But what about my assumption that the lift side of the rotor is generally found between the sink side of the rotor and the upwind ridge? Or does this depend on the particular ridge and the particular day?

And what about a downwind ridge? I've got it into my head that the sink side of the rotor is between the lift side of the rotor and the downwind ridge. There may be a band of ridge lift between the sink side of the rotor and the downwind ridge. Are rules of thumb possible/useful or is this just my limited experience on my local ridges?