I have seen the technique mentioned by vfd.
i call it fishing for the ground or pumping the yoke.
I do not encourage it for anything.
ONE OF THE GREAT visual miscues of mountain flying is the apparent location of the horizon (visual horizon)>
IT IS NOT at the top of the mountains, it is at the base of the mountains.
AS bad as it would have been to just level off to lose some speed and then go off the end, it would have been better than the result.