A woman "could not believe what was happening'' as she watched her husband fall to his death on the Milford Track last year.
George Clyde Little (69), of Auckland, died after falling from McKinnon Pass on March 6, 2015.
His death was one of three Fiordland deaths covered in coroner inquiries released yesterday.
A second inquiry focused on the deaths of two 23-year-old Canadian tourists, Louis-Vincent Lessard and Etienne Lemieux, who died of suffocation after they were swept away by an avalanche while walking the Kepler Track in the middle of winter last year.
The inquiry into the death of Mr Little - who went by the name Clyde - quotes the reaction of his wife, Jill, to seeing him fall off the side of the track.
"I looked up and saw a flash of Clyde falling over the bank.
"I could not believe what was happening.
"I did not hear anything.
"I could not see Clyde over the bank at all, '' Mrs Little said.
Others in the group, and guides from another party walking the Milford Track at the same time, gave assistance, including CPR, but Mr Little died at the scene.
In his written findings, Dunedin-based coroner David Crerar said Mr Little was walking faster than and a little ahead of others in the party - which was organised by the Milton Rotary Club - when he fell from a steeper section of the track close to the top of the McKinnon Pass.
He fell between 100m and 150m down the slope.
Mr Crerar found that Mr Little died as a result of "multiple traumatic injuries''.
The organisers of the trip were not responsible for the death and there appeared to be nothing "inherently dangerous'' about the surface of the track.
The coroner did not reach a conclusion as to why Mr Little fell from the track, with Doc ranger Trevor Pitt, who was the warden based at Mintaro Hut, describing the section of track from which Mr Little fell as being a "really wide flat part''.
"There was nothing unusual there; nothing stood out as to how Clyde had fallen at this particular location.''
One experienced tramper, Kelly Blakeborough, speculated that the fall might have been caused by his tripping on a rock.
A postmortem report said Mr Little had severe coronary artery arteriosclerosis and cardiac arrhythmia, and a syncopal episode (fainting) could not be ruled out as a cause of the fall.
Southern Lakes Helicopters operations manager Lloyd Matheson, who had experience with previous incidents, estimated Mr Little fell a vertical distance of about 80m in "free fall''.
In his 37 years' experience he could not recall anyone falling to their death on that part of the track.
Another tramper in the party, Paul Carter, described hearing shouts from further down the track as he approached the McKinnon Memorial at the top of the pass.
He ran back down the track and was told by Mrs Little and another tramper that Mr Little had disappeared off the edge of the track.
Mr Carter descended the steep slope directly below the track and found Mr Little in a gully.
Mr Little, who was lying on his back, head downhill with his legs in the stream, was able to respond to requests by grunting.
The group spent some time trying to bandage the "very serious'' head wound received by Mr Little in the fall.
His condition deteriorated and he stopped breathing about noon, only to start breathing again following CPR before stopping again.
He was declared dead at 12.20pm by a paramedic who was flown in by rescue helicopter.
