Facts: A hiker went up the main trail with friends, but eventually continued on after his friends turned around ~Trail Crest. He attempted to descend the Mountaineer's Route "Walk Off" Traverse, and near the Notch at the base of the Final 400 slipped/tripped and was unable to arrest his fall before a cliff.
Unkowns: His descent on the Mountaineer's Route may have been a mistake, intending instead to be on the Main Trail. It is unknown if conditions or a stumble (or combination) led to his slide and eventual fall, or how conditions or experience contributed to his inability to arrest. The area around the Walk-Off Notch can be steep, icy, and contain unconsolidated or hard packed snow, but other hikers did safely summit via the Mountaineer's Route through the notch the same day.
There are obviously reminders about route finding, route assessment, and appropriate skills/experience, but if there are any other insights on the route this time of the season, I'm certainly interested - heading up for a second time this weekend.
My conclusion to this is that he began this descent by mistake. It HAD to be a mistake, because his overnight gear remained near the Main Trail, and he needed to go back that way to pick it up. People cannot get to Consultation Lake by descending this route. They would need to re-climb 3000' vertical feet up the main trail to get back to that point.
Below are two telling pictures from his fateful descent. click on each to see the full-size image, showing his two lost ice axes and his slide tracks. (Ice axes had already been retrieved by hikers in second picture.)
