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 is missing after skiing off-piste alone.