Ski A&E

Rescue and medical teams in a ski resort deal with extreme conditions and daily accidents on the slopes of the French Alps. A pensioner cannot remember what day it is.

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

Ski Patrol and the medics deal with 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'.

Featuring people who pay the price for white-knuckle thrills, including a netball umpire who receives heartbreaking news and an elderly Canadian who stabs his face on a ski pole.

The teams deal with the range of emergencies that occur in the Val Thorens snowpark, including a teenager who has concussion and a man who breaks his spine.

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.

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.

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 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.

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