Jim Bowles, 57, the head of ConocoPhillips Alaska died in an avalanche while riding a snowmobile in south central Alaska, US media reported.
Bowles, president of the company, was with a dozen other riders in the wilderness area of Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, when he and another person were buried and killed by the avalanche.
A fellow employee of ConocoPhillips, Alan Gage, is missing following the avalanche, and presumed dead too.
“Jim Bowles has led our Alaska organization and its some 900 employees since late 2004 and presided over a number of developments that ensured our company’s place and standing in Alaska and will serve as a legacy to his leadership as we go forward, a company statement said.
“Alan Gage is a respected member of our capital projects organization and has been a ConocoPhillips employee since 2006. We are hopeful the search for him can resume soon”, it said.
Bowles began his career with Phillips Petroleum Company in 1974 and served in a number of positions in Oklahoma, Texas, Montana and Norway. In 1997, he was appointed president of Phillips’ Americas division, and in October of 2004, Jim assumed his current position of president, ConocoPhillips Alaska.
Meanwhile, poor weather conditions forced rescuers to suspend their search for Gage.
The avalanche that killed Bowles occurred in the Grandview area wilderness between Girdwood and Seward on the Kenai Peninsula.
A trooper spokeswoman said troopers would resume the search when weather allowed.
Forecaster Carl Skustad with the Chugach National Forest’s Avalanche Information Center said the snowmobiles were in moderate terrain, with probably a 35-40 degree slope. But with the weak layer underneath, that can be enough for snow to let loose, he said.
At least one member of the party drove back to the railroad tracks to call in the accident.