BEND — One of the two skiers who died at Mt. Bachelor ski area last weekend struck a tree so hard that his helmet was torn off as well as his skis.

The Feb. 12 crash that killed Theodore Speer, 60, occurred on the backside of the mountain in snow that a witness described as slightly covered in ice and “very fast,” according to one of two Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office reports obtained by The Bulletin. The witness was skiing with Speer and found him injured and unconscious minutes after the crash.

Ski patrol personnel were dispatched soon after at 12:35 p.m.

The witness also told investigators that Speer “had struck the tree at a high rate of speed and had suffered severe injuries. The impact caused Ted’s skis to come off and his helmet to be forcefully removed from his head.”

The two skiers were in an area described in the sheriff’s reports as the Catch Trail and the west Catch Line.

“The location where the crash occurred is on the west Catch Line of Mt. Bachelor,” one report said. “The Catch Line is the Ski Boundary for the Ski Resort. The trail is approximately 15-20 feet wide with a steep embankment to the Westside with multiple trees. This trail is groomed daily.”

Speer was breathing when ski patrol members reached him, but they began CPR when his breathing stopped, one of the sheriff’s reports states.

Speer’s death came one day after Thomas Schuberg, 66, died in a separate ski accident on Mt. Bachelor. Speer is the third ski-related death on Mt. Bachelor since the winter season began. Details of Schuberg’s death are not currently available.

On Dec. 31, Birkan Uzun, 28, died after falling into a tree well on Mt. Bachelor.

Uzun was found by ski patrol personnel who responded to an emergency call at 1:30 p.m.

Since 2018, there have been seven ski-related deaths on Mt. Bachelor.

A day after Speer’s death on Saturday, a 64-year-old man was air-lifted to St. Charles Bend due to what Mt. Bachelor ski area officials are calling a “medical emergency.” His condition has not been released.

Leigh Capozzi, the communications director for Mt. Bachelor did not share details about the circumstances of either death, or the emergency medical evacuation.

Speer was transferred to an ambulance by the time Deschutes County Sheriff’s deputy Jim Warren, the author of one of the reports, arrived at Mt. Bachelor.

The report continued to explain that Speer’s ski companion had stopped partially down the mountain to take a break and wait for Speer to catch up.

But Speer didn’t show up, and about 10 minutes later, Speer’s companion went back up the mountain to the last spot he remembered seeing Speer.

Speer’s companion found Speer about “20 feet below the catch line underneath a tree,” the report stated.

At this point, the companion realized Speer was unresponsive.

The report stated at some point, it was noticed the tree Speer was found under had broken branches and appeared to have bark missing, an indication that Speer struck the tree at high speeds.

The report from the sheriff’s office concluded Speer’s death was accidental, deeming the investigation complete.

Capozzi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.