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SNOW PATROL: GP Dr Mike Langran (left) works with CairnGorm Mountain ski patrol providing emergency medical assistance to injured skiers. Right: Around 70,000 skiers visit the mountain each year.


ON SKIS, ON CALL W


Adam Campbell talks to GP Mike Langran, who provides emergency medical cover on the slopes of Scotland’s busiest ski resort


HEN Dr Mike Langran says he’s “by no means the world’s best skier”, logic tells me he is probably hiding his light under a bushel. For one thing, as the volunteer


ski patrol doctor at CairnGorm Mountain in the Scottish Highlands, he spends more time on the slopes than most snow sports enthusiasts. In the winter months, when not in his GP’s


surgery at the nearby Aviemore Medical Practice, Mike will often swap his white coat for a ski jacket and head up the mountain where he provides medical cover for visitors out and about on the ski resort. It’s a service he’s been off ering on a


volunteer basis for well over a decade, having got involved somewhat by accident in 1999. At the time he was already a partner at the Aviemore practice and had been collecting data


on injury patterns from snow sports, a long-term research project in collaboration with the Centre for Rural Health in Inverness that is still ongoing. “Inevitably I got to meet the ski patrol and I


started getting involved in some of the accidents on the mountain when I was skiing myself. And then, in 1999, I sort of formally became the ski patrol doctor and part of the team. I’ve been with them ever since.”


Snow patrol In general, throughout the season, he will be at the resort most weekends, and one or two days a week at the height of the season. And even when not on the mountain, if the ski patrol needs help, he and his medical partners are always at the end of the line. “Just yesterday I had a call looking for advice on someone who was injured and asking if they


were doing the right thing. We have a very good working relationship.” The full-time members of the ski patrol are


extremely professional and experienced in terms of stabilising casualties and getting them off the mountain, says Mike. But where his expertise comes into its own is in the more serious emergencies, such as a head injury or a potential spinal injury. “They don’t need me for every injury and


every illness, but I have a particular advantage when people are in a lot of pain,” he says. “I can give people stronger pain relief that works more quickly.”


Among the many challenges of working outside in winter is actually getting to the patient, particularly as the more serious injuries often occur when a skier has left the beaten track. “I’ve been involved in some rescues in some very hairy situations on the


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