Company behind the North Slope's winter village trail names two Deadhorse managers

UIC Oil & Gas Support, the company that builds and maintains the North Slope's Community Winter Access Trail, has named Paul Patkotak and Jake Bellinger operations managers at its Deadhorse shop, it announced Wednesday.

The shop runs year-round, and the two will work opposite rotations so a manager is always on site, General Manager Joe Barron said.

The trail is a packed-snow route across the tundra that links roadless villages to the road system in winter. For places like Atqasuk and Anaktuvuk Pass, it is how bulk fuel for heat and power gets in, Alaska News reported in July, when Barron took over as general manager. The state's NPR-A impact program awarded the North Slope Borough $15 million for trail maintenance and improvements from fiscal 2025 through 2028.

Patkotak has worked at the company for more than three years, hauling winter freight in tracked snow vehicles from Deadhorse to most North Slope villages and helping establish and maintain the trail, according to the company.

Bellinger, who was raised in Cooper Landing, joined in July after 20 years in North Slope logistics, most recently as shop foreman for Conam Construction.

Besides the trail, the company moves freight, equipment and people across the tundra and runs heavy haul trucking on the Prudhoe Bay road system. It is part of Ukpeaġvik Iñupiat Corporation, the Utqiaġvik village corporation.