NEW YORK, New York — Millions of skiers and snowboarders hit the slopes every year — in fact last year the nation’s ski resorts saw a record number of visitors. While snow sports enjoy an excellent safety record, injuries and deaths occur on the slopes each year. With the ski season about to kick off, truTV is set to launch a high-adrenaline, high-stakes series called SKI PATROL. Premiering Monday, Oct. 20, at 8 p.m. (ET/PT), the series follows an elite group of patrollers whose special training makes them part mountain rescuers, part medical technicians, part cops and part good Samaritans.

In SKI PATROL, truTV follows two teams of men and women who work in some of the most extreme environments in the country. Whether they’re performing high-altitude rescues, splinting a broken arm or busting unruly snowboarders, these brave men and women put it all on the line to keep the slopes safe.

The half-hour series gives viewers unique access to patrol units at Blue Mountain, Pa., and Crystal Mountain, Wash., as they respond to everything from injured vacationers and missing children to out-of-bounds snowboarders and skiers careening out of control. truTV also follows the patrollers after hours, as they seek to unwind from the day’s events.

In episode one, a young man faces paralysis after taking a ski pole to the chin while attempting a difficult stunt. When an avalanche blocks an emergency vehicle from scaling the mountain, an already demanding rescue becomes nearly impossible. Also, one young girl shatters her wrist after a spill on the mountain but falls even harder for the patroller who helps her.

In episode two, the extreme sport of paraskiing takes over Crystal Mountain. Extra patrollers are called in to monitor dozens of paraskiers flying above. Later, a patrol mobilizes to treat a snowboarder who suffers a severe head injury and broken vertebrae after a flip goes wrong. When married patrollers Andrew and Michelle perform a routine avalanche control mission, the day turns disastrous as Michelle is buried alive.

SKI PATROL’s Crystal Mountain episodes are produced by Varuna Entertainment, Inc. for truTV and executive-produced by Jason C. Morgan and Robert A. Zazzali. The Blue Mountain episodes are produced by Bunim/Murray Productions for truTV and is executive produced by Jeff Jenkins and Jonathan Murray. For truTV, Robyn Hutt is the executive in charge of production. Tony Horn is executive producer and Madelyn Brudner serves as associate producer on the series.

truTV is television’s destination for real-life stories told from an exciting and dramatic first-person perspective. Currently seen in 91 million U.S. households and enjoying more than a year of solid and consistent ratings growth, truTV features high-stakes, action-packed originals that give viewers access to places and situations they can’t normally experience. Among truTV’s primetime fan favorites are the original series Smoking Gun Presents; Most Daring; Speeders; Ocean Force; Principal’s Office; Forensic Files; and Dominick Dunne’s Power, Privilege and Justice. During the daytime, the channel features expert trial coverage under the name IN SESSION.

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news, entertainment, animation and young adult media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.