Interestingly no mention of performance planning or checking - with the reported aerodrome figures on 1064 amsl and + 28 deg, some straight line and basic interpolation would give 8000'amsl and + 14 deg at the accident site ( approx) and a DA (again approx) of just under 10,000'.
They had recently taken on fuel and had several people in the back - where was either the proof of HOGE performance or the questioning that it was available?
For mountain SAR, you want more than just HOGE because you will be hovering and may not be able to do so perfectly into wind. Did they have that?
Also it is noticeable that the pilot has far fewer overall hours both total and on type than the co-pilot - who should have probably been the HP in tricky conditions???
Insufficient mountain flying training at high DAs perhaps - low time on type pilot in a heavyish aircraft - perhaps a dummy approach to a higher hover to assess the TR performance prior to getting close to the ground? Plenty of ways to avoid this incident - they were all VERY lucky.