BEND — The skier who crashed at the start of a deadly weekend earlier this month at Mt. Bachelor ski area was highly trained but lost control as he descended the Boomerang run at an estimated 40 to 50 mph, according to a report by the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office.

Thomas Schuberg, 66, of Bend, died Feb. 11 after tumbling and sliding down the run and crashing into a downed log that was just outside the groomed area of the run and visible to anyone coming down the slope, the sheriff’s investigation said. Mt. Bachelor Ski Patrol called emergency dispatchers for help at 11:27 a.m.

Schuberg’s wife would tell investigators that his skill level often allowed him to ski “in excess of 60 mph at times,” the report states.

The report concluded “that Schuberg was skiing at a very high speed, when something caused him to get out of shape and one of his skis came unclipped, causing him to crash and slide into a downed log while still traveling very fast. It appears that Schuberg was beyond help after impacting the log.”

At the time, Schuberg was the second death on the mountain this season, but his accident was followed 24 hours later by a crash that killed Theodore Speer, 60.

Speer was on the backside of the mountain in snow that a witness described as slightly covered in ice and “very fast.”

The first death of the season was Birkan Uzun, a 28-year-old Seattle man who fell into a tree well on Dec. 31 another report from the sheriff’s office showed.

Since 2018, there have been seven ski-related deaths at Mt. Bachelor, but this season is the deadliest.

Schuberg, a highly skilled skier who had worked for years as a ski instructor at Mt. Hood Meadows, was pronounced dead at around 1:06 p.m. after first responders attempted to resuscitate him. He had been skiing with two companions, David Watkins and Todd Falcony, who both told investigators they and Schuberg were “skiing very fast all day.”

The first ski patrol member to attend to Schuberg after he crashed was Alexander Sypek.

When Sypek arrived, there were already three people attempting CPR on Schuberg, he told investigators. At this point Schuberg had already been moved out of a small “tree well, against the log,” the report showed.

Jamison Heath, a witness to the crash, said Schuberg skied past him “going very fast,” explaining that his speed “was definitely over 40 mph, but could have been 50 mph, or more.” When Schuberg was about 25 yards ahead of Heath, he watched as he lost control.

Since 2018, most of the skiers who have died on Mt. Bachelor have fallen into tree wells, including Uzun.

Ski patrol personnel tried to rescue Uzun by digging him out of deep snow and administering CPR, according to a sheriff’s report.

Uzun died two hours later after being transported to St. Charles Bend.

Tree wells form when snow accumulates around the base of a tree, but does not fill into the areas around the lower hanging branches. This creates a deep pocket of soft, unstable snow that can be treacherous if someone falls into it.

Uzun had traveled from Seattle to ski with a group of friends, the report showed. The group lost sight of him as they skied down the mountain “between the Devils east and the Devils west trail runs in the wooded area on the Northwest side of Mt. Bachelor.”

When the friends realized Uzun was missing, they started back up the mountain to search for him, the report showed. That’s when they heard someone yelling for help.

Another skier was attempting to rescue Uzun who had fallen head first into the tree well.

Safety at Mt. Bachelor is determined by “the decisions and actions” of the skiers and snowboarders on the mountain, said John McLeod, president and general manager.

“Guests have access to various touchpoints that provide information on the terrain and conditions every day,” McLeod said in an email. “Some examples include, the mountain report and alert messages on our website and Mt. Bachelor app, permanent ski run signs designating run and terrain difficulty level, daily safety related signage across the resort, along with in-person advisories by patrol, mountain hosts and other resort personnel at various times.”

It is unclear if the log that Schuberg struck is still on the slopes of the ski area.

“Trees and tree logs are part of the forested environment at Mt Bachelor,” McLeod said. “Safety at Mt. Bachelor is our number one priority.”