Patrol teams work to prevent avalanches, using dynamite, train their rescue dogs, and desperately seek a 14-year-old boy who is missing after skiing off-piste alone.

It's the famous Varsity Week, when rival Oxbridge universities hit town for a downhill grudge match - alongside the usual dramatic backdrop of cases from the slopes of Val Thorens.

There's a rare crisis in Val Thorens when one of biggest cable cars in the world breaks down, leaving up to 100 people dangling from a wire 50 metres above the mountainside.

It's Changeover Day in Val Thorens, which means legions of first-time and out-of-practice skiers hitting the slopes with sometimes disastrous consequences.

Patients include Terri from Crewe, who ends up with more than 20 stitches in her shoulder, and Igor the Russian businessman, who refuses all medical assistance.

The snowpark in Val Thorens has dozens of jumps, pipes and jibs for the more adventurous winter sports fan, but some of these hi-octane thrillseekers inevitably end up in Ski A&E.

Most ski-fans love going fast, but speed means risk. This time, we meet those who pay the price for these white-knuckle thrills, including a netball umpire who receives heart-breaking news.

Ski Patrol and the medics deal with painful emergencies – including a heli-rescue from a mountain, a little boy with slashed fingers and a woman whose leg has, as one medic says, ‘exploded'.

The changing weather causes difficulties on the mountains as the teams rescue a Geordie who's cut open his face and a woman who has fallen 13 metres without a helmet.

Introducing the various teams who work together, including the helicopter mountain team who treat an extreme case over 3,000m up as the patient slips in and out of consciousness, a young British lad who gets tough love from his Mum, and a pensioner on holiday with a group of friends who bangs his head and can't remember what day it is.