Sasless, I wasn't talking about a HIT check, but being on the scene and pulling the collective until a limit was reached - Tq, egt or rpm bleed. Max torque available therefore established in those conditions, for that machine at that time.
Subtract the margin, go to the IGE or OGE chart using that Tq, getting an accurate representation of what weight can be lifted with what kind of approach. Could have the chart already looked up for the expected conditions, and if the OAT and PA were pretty close when you got there, no need to be looking in the chart while flying.
Took a minute and worked well, and a real-world representation of what the aircraft was capable of doing for that situation - no different to what you would be getting out of your power-at-a-given-airspeed check.