A 21-year-old man is dead after he attempted to ski jump across the breadth of U.S. Highway 40 in Colorado earlier this week.

Sometime before 3 p.m. Tuesday, Dallas LeBeau attempted to clear the highway’s span, about 40 feet across, in a pair of skis. The attempt took place near mile marker 241.5, just west of the summit of Berthoud Pass.

Mr. LeBeau was wearing a helmet and other protective gear, but he failed to generate enough speed to lift him over to the other side of the highway, the Grand County Sheriff’s Office said in a release Wednesday. He then had a hard landing on the asphalt.

Law enforcement did not say whether Mr. LeBeau was struck by any vehicles before first responders arrived.

Spots along the highway in the state’s backcountry are favored by some Colorado skiers, but the area carries significant risks.

“The ski injuries, risky for the tubing that goes on up there, risky for the avalanches. It is Colorado’s backcountry and the backcountry has inherent risk. Yesterday was one of those risks,” Grand County Sheriff Brett Schroetlin told KCNC-TV.

First responders attempted CPR before declaring him dead. The sheriff’s office did not specify Mr. LeBeau’s exact cause of death.

Friends say he was a lifelong daredevil.

“He wanted to do things that nobody else had done. He always said his birthday was the same day as Evel Knievel,” Devin Shirk, a childhood friend of Mr. LeBeau, told KDVR-TV.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.