Alaska avalanche kills Conoco exec, worker missing

The avalanche that killed Bowles occurred in the Grandview area wilderness between Girdwood and Seward on the Kenai Peninsula.

Bowles was with a group of about 12 snowmachiners when the avalanche roared down a slope. His body was recovered before nightfall, while the second rider also caught in the slide, Alan Gage, was missing and presumed killed, troopers said.

Bowles has headed Conoco Phillips Alaska since November 2004 and oversaw roughly 900 employees in the state, said spokeswoman Natalie Lowman.

"He was a great leader for our company. ... Our deepest sympathies go out to his family," she said.

Gage also worked for Conoco Phillips as a member of the company's capital projects team in Anchorage, Lowman said.

Bowles was pronounced dead after rescuers tried to revive him with CPR for at least 30 minutes, troopers said.

A trooper spokeswoman had said in an e-mail Saturday that neither man wore an avalanche beacon. But on Sunday, a description of the search posted on the troopers Web site said friends using beacons were able to locate Bowles about 45 minutes after the avalanche.