MANY GLACIER - Longtime Great Falls neurologist William Labunetz, 67, fell to his death Saturday while hiking off-trail in Glacier National Park.

"We came over the Iceberg Notch," said friend and fellow climber Jim Heckel. The group included Heckel, Labunetz, Labunetz' 38-year-old son Chris and two others. The five had climbed from Many Glacier to the scenic point far above Iceberg Lake, on the park's east side.

"From there," Heckel said, "it drops off into a big scree basin," and then to a snowfield, a pitch of cliffs and - 2,500 feet below - Lake Helen, at the headwaters of the Belly River.

The group had made their way to Iceberg Notch, Heckel said, and were picking down Ahern Pass when they decided to split up.

"We were looking for the goat trail," he said, which links climbers back to the main hiking trail near Ptarmigan Tunnel. "None of us had ever done that route, except Bill (Labunetz), and he'd done it coming from the other direction."

Unable to find the goat trail, two of the climbers "took the high road," convinced the route was above them. Labunetz, however, insisted (correctly) the path lay below, and headed downhill. Heckel and Chris Labunetz remained "caught in the middle, uncertain which way to go."

Heckel climbed up, to get a bearing, but the two "high road" hikers already had disappeared. So he climbed down, looking for Labunetz, but he too had vanished.

It was past noon, pushing 2 p.m., and the day was hot and clear.

"There wasn't a lot of communication about where people were going," Heckel said. "Chris and I decided to forget the goat trail and just hike straight up, back to the main trail."

When they crossed that path, they bumped into a pair of hikers heading toward Many Glacier, coming from the direction Labunetz should have been. "I asked if they'd seen anybody, and they said, 'Yeah, we saw a guy, but he didn't make it.' I didn't understand at first. I was unclear what they meant. They meant Bill was dead."

The hikers walked Heckel and Chris Labunetz up to the accident site, where a park staffer - who had witnessed the accident while hiking with his family - already was on the scene. Labunetz, Heckel said, had "obviously died instantly from the fall."

Park officials estimate Labunetz fell 300 feet before stopping on the ridge above Lake Helen. Heckel said the staffer at the scene hiked up to the area where Labunetz lost his footing, and reported the rock there was wet and slick.

He was not far above the goat trail he sought, and was down-climbing to reach the path, Heckel said.

"Bill was a very, very avid and accomplished hiker," Heckel said. "Everyone on that hike was competent. The real problem was no one was sure how to find that goat trail, coming at it from that side."

After several hours of waiting at the scene, Heckel said, Minuteman Aviation arrived to ferry Labunetz off the mountain.

"It's treacherous country up there," he said. "But you know, bad things can happen anywhere. All it takes is a moment's inattention."

The remaining two hikers "cliffed out" in their attempt to find a high-road route, and returned, unknowing, via the main trail to Many Glacier.

Labunetz is survived by his wife, Gerri, and their three children, Chris, Mike and Jenni.