state troopers from searching Sunday for a Conoco Phillips Alaska
employee missing in the avalanche that killed company president
The avalanche that killed Bowles occurred in the Grandview area wilderness between
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,
Bowles has headed Conoco Phillips Alaska since
“He was a great leader for our company. … Our deepest sympathies go out to his family,” she said.
Gage also worked for
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.
“Apparently Bowles was found wearing (a beacon), but Gage did not have one on,” said Trooper spokeswoman
Troopers will resume the search for Gage when
weather allows, she said. “We’re not going to be going out today. The
weather is not conducive to searching.”
The deadly
The search on the
— was called off for the night as darkness fell and the threat of
severe weather rolling in from Prince William Sound increased, said
troopers Sgt.
“We’ve got pretty hazardous avalanche conditions out
here right now with the new snow,” Barlow said. “We’re going to have a
lot of natural avalanches coming down, and the human-triggered ones are
going to be a biggie as well. We’ve got three people deceased today as
a result.”
A group of about a dozen snowmachiners were
traveling together in the Grandview area when the avalanche struck,
troopers spokeswoman
Forecaster
said the snowmachiners 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 around
By the time the troopers helicopter got to the
scene, Bowles’ body had already been recovered, Peters said. Searchers
were unable to locate the other victim.
The Hiland avalanche was reported by neighbors and by a woman who escaped the snow and made it to the road, said
“Avalanches are fairly common in the Hiland valley here,” he said.
Troopers on Sunday said Schorr was skiing down to meet a friend when the avalanche began.
The pair were in an area known as “three bowls,” said
lives about two miles from the avalanche site. The first people on the
scene were neighbors who saw the man’s hand protruding from the snow,
Melling said.
Debris from the avalanche was piled roughly three to four feet high in the area, he said.
Experts warned conditions are ripe for avalanches with a recent snow dump and high winds.
“We’re dealing with an instability that’s
long-lasting. It’s been in the snowpack pretty much since the beginning
of the year,” Melling said.
Firefighters and police lined the roadway Saturday as the sun went down and members of the
Schorr was pronounced dead at
was calling Saturday’s avalanche danger moderate with pockets of
considerable danger. Forecaster Skustad said in an interview that a
layer of surface hoar that formed about two weeks ago is now buried
under about three feet of snow, making for potentially big slides.
Recent heavy snows and whipping winds are creating
substantial danger that is only expected to get worse in coming days as
a new storm moves through, Skustad said. The four feet of new snow was
measured in eight days at
“Today was the allure of bluebird weather,” Skustad
said. “Today was a challenging day because it had good visibility, the
snow quality was nice and people were just getting out there. We need
to give the mountains a chance to adjust to the new snow loads.”
—
(c) 2010, Anchorage Daily News (Anchorage, Alaska).
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