"The climber did remarkably well, although arguably he would have risked less by staying put until rescuers came looking."

What would have triggered a SAR operation? Did he leave word with someone dependable? If not, what he did was perhaps the best thing to do. At any rate, it worked.

He was evidently well equipped. Melting snow implies that he had a stove and cook set.

The routes on pyramid Peak are described as third and fourth class, which indicates you would have a rope and presumably a pardner to make effective use of the rope. Still he would not have been the first to solo on such terrain.

I am still surprised at the 500 meter length of his :uncontrolled descent." As a rule of thumb, about 40 feet (13 meters) of vertical, unimpeded fall will usually result in a fatality. With a bad landing, even less energy is required to kill. He was VERY fortunate.