John - I take your point about nose-in versus lateral but he did something in between for the drop off - just the front of the right skid on the snow - again well flown but if nose in is better, why didn't he do that then?
Hoistop - don't confuse what we did on UK SAR with this operation - we had to winch 95% of the time since a nose-in landing wasn't an option and the larger disc and downwash of the Sea King meant we had to winch higher than you would in a smaller helo.
As for the falling - we tried whenever possible to keep the winchman and casualty as low as possible to the ground - it couldn't always be achieved but I would still rather fall 5 m than 50 m or 500 m. On a snowy slope at low height you at least have a chance of stopping yourself sliding whereas from a greater height you are probably going all the way to the bottom.