A Colorado man has died after a skiing accident at the U.S. World Free Skiing Championships at the Alyeska Resort in Alaska.

Alaska State Troopers identified him as 26-year-old John Nicoletta of Aspen.

Troopers told the Anchorage Daily News that Nicoletta went off a steep embankment Friday and fell about 100 feet onto rocks, apparently dying instantly.

Troopers Sgt. Bryan Barlow says witnesses reported Nicoletta fell off the outcrop. He says Nicoletta was "head over heels, essentially tomahawking all the way down the hill."

Barlow says resuscitation efforts went on for about 45 minutes before he was declared dead.

The competition at the resort about 30 miles south of Anchorage is scheduled to continue Saturday.