After a daring ski stunt turned deadly, this former Olympian created a unique safety class to prevent similar tragedies

In The NoCo

After a daring ski stunt turned deadly, this former Olympian created a unique safety class to prevent similar tragedies

By In The NoCo,

Published April 15, 2025 at 5:40 AM MDT

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A skier is flying through the air after jumping off a large manmade ski jump. A snowcapped mountain range is in the distance. — Dallas' Class is a new class designed to educate young skiers about the ins-and-outs of capturing tricks and stunts on camera. It covers everything from choosing your crew to backcountry safety.

A lot of young skiers and snowboarders nowadays want to break into an especially daring form of competition called freeskiing. It鈥檚 all about performing jumps and other stunts on camera, often in the backcountry. Freeskiers build huge followings on social media and win endorsement deals.

But breaking into this sport is dangerous.

Last week marked of 21-year-old Colorado skier Dallas LeBeau. He died while attempting to jump across U.S. Highway 40 on Berthoud Pass near Winter Park. Dallas had dreamed up the stunt to win a contest that would have netted him $30,000 and greater exposure on social media.

After that accident, his friend and mentor decided freeskiers like Dallas need a new kind of training.

Bob is a retired Olympic ski jumper who鈥檚 now maintenance director for Winter Park Resort. And he recently launched a class to teach young skiers and snowboarders how to attempt these tricks more safely. He called it .

A graphic of jump building has arrows that point in the directions a skier will feel pressure, and the angle of takeoff. — "There's a lot of elements that we want to make sure were communicated that weren't communicated in what is a traditional snow safety class," said Bob Holme when talking about the curriculum in Dallas' Class. The class covered technical aspects of freeskiing such as engineering a perfect jump for a landing spot.

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皇冠网址's In The NoCo is a daily slice of stories, news, people and issues. It's a window to the communities along the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The show brings context and insight to the stories of the day, often elevating unheard voices in the process. And because life in Northern Colorado is a balance of work and play, we celebrate the lighter side of things here, too.

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Ariel Lavery

Ariel Lavery grew up in Louisville, Colorado and has returned to the Front Range after spending over 25 years moving around the country. She co-created the podcast Middle of Everywhere for WKMS, Murray State University鈥檚 NPR member station, and won Public Media Journalism awards in every season she produced for Middle of Everywhere. Her most recent series project is "The Burn Scar", published with The Modern West podcast. In it, she chronicles two years of her family鈥檚 financial and emotional struggle following the loss of her childhood home in the Marshall Fire.

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As the host of 皇冠网址鈥檚 new program and podcast In the NoCo, I work closely with our producers and reporters to bring context and diverse perspectives to the important issues of the day. Northern Colorado is such a diverse and growing region, brimming with history, culture, music, education, civic engagement, and amazing outdoor recreation. I love finding the stories and voices that reflect what makes NoCo such an extraordinary place to live.

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Brad Turner is an executive producer in 皇冠网址's newsroom. He manages the podcast team that makes In The NoCo, which also airs weekdays in Morning Edition and All Things Considered. His work as a podcaster and journalist has appeared on NPR's Weekend Edition, NPR Music, the PBS Newshour, Colorado Public Radio, MTV Online, the Denver Post, Boulder's Daily Camera, and the Longmont Times-Call.

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