Steep approach to a site like that is textbook myth
That is simply untrue, I've used that day and night in hot and high situations in the past.
Coming level or for beneath retaining an escape route is a great technique and one I have used and taught many times over the years, especially at night where rates of closure are more difficult to assess.
However in the Colombian accident it doesn't look like he thought about escape routes as he could have approach from a slightly different direction and retained the ability to dive away as he got to Nr decay.