Interesting. I too wonder about normalisation of deviance. Flying up the centre of the valley, losing the turnaround option, is something I was taught not to do. I was also taught not to fly up a dead end valley like that with a wind on the nose. Almost guaranteed to have some downdraughts, tricky if power is limited. These every experienced pilots must have known this but perhaps had been lulled by repetition and plenty of successful flights before.
The progressive slow raising of the nose suggests a loss of attitude awareness. For mountain flying a lot of emphasis was on the horizon illusion s, with the need to keep checking the instruments. In the French Alps I was warned about the possible rapid loss of airspeed from downdraft to sudden updraft while flying through gusty turbulence near the mountainsides. Again I wonder if time and experience had dulled the concern.
A sobering report, with useful stark reminders.
'Blind Pew' - excellent post, entirely agree with you.
Ouch.