Vienna - A cave explorer could face charges of attempted murder after he built a potentially deadly trap to keep a rival from a cave in the Austrian Alps, police said Monday.

The 68-year-old suspect placed large rocks onto a rope that would have come crashing down on anyone using it in the cave on Dachstein mountain, police said.

The trap was discovered last month by an amateur caver who attempted to abseil into the mountain two days after he was told by the suspect not to explore the cave.

The suspect was arrested last Thursday. He is also suspected of scratching cars of other cave enthusiasts.

"His pride was wounded," police investigator Harald Winkler told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. "He didn't want anyone to enter his cave." (dpa)