I question the ability of people on K2 now. I have never heard of the bottleneck being fixed before. In years past, climbers that climbed the bottleneck had the ability to climb back down the bottleneck.
I was on the North Side of K2 in '86 when a bunch of people were killed in storms, avalanches, crevasse fall (Cassorotto). I think 13 total. Our expedition was isolated and did not hear about the tragedies on the Pakistan side until we reached Kashgar at the end of Aug. (No sat phones in '86) That is a damn scary mountain. Monsoon generated storms come in and lay waste to the upper mountain. K2 is the last resting place of many fine mountaineers.
It is too bad but not surprising. Sherpas, high altitude porters, and Guided, low skill level climbers create these situations. It will happen again.
