Adelboden or Serre Chevalier: the same starting height, a bigger mountain above one

Altitude: level at the door, 395 metres apart at the top

From the same village height, Serre Chevalier's skiing climbs to 2,751 metres by our measurement, 395 higher than Adelboden's 2,356. The gap runs right through the mountain. Seventy two percent of Serre Chevalier's piste is at or above 1,800 metres, against 55 at Adelboden, and 52 percent is above 2,000 metres, against 16. Half of Serre Chevalier's piste sits above 2,020 metres; half of Adelboden's above 1,829.

That decides the snow call. Our snow sure test asks for more than half the piste at or above 1,800 metres and skiing that reaches 2,500. Serre Chevalier passes it: 72 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, up to 2,751. Adelboden passes the first part and not the second, so on our measure it is not snow sure. Nobody can promise snow anywhere, but if you are booking early or late in the season, Serre Chevalier has far more of its skiing well up the hill.

Size: Serre Chevalier has more, and more of it easy

Our data does not confirm an area figure for Serre Chevalier, so compare on the piste we measure around each village. Serre Chevalier has 152.7 kilometres, against 115.8 at the median resort we cover. Adelboden has 114.6, about 38 fewer.

Adelboden's own figures need a sentence. From the village you can ski 85 kilometres without a bus, the main Adelboden and Lenk domain, with Lenk joined by lift. The pass covers 188 kilometres, but across five sectors that are not all joined: Betelberg, Elsigen-Metsch, Engstligenalp and Tschentenalp sit outside the domain. Our 115 is more than the domain itself, so it takes in some piste beyond it. Plan the week on the 85.

The biggest gap is at the easy end. Serre Chevalier has 91.4 kilometres of green and blue, the tenth most of the 55 resorts we cover, and 40.8 kilometres of it is reliably mapped green. Adelboden has 52 kilometres of blue and easier; green is not reliably tagged there. That is about 39 kilometres more easy skiing at Serre Chevalier.

At the hard end the gap is smaller. Serre Chevalier has 16.7 kilometres of black, 3.8 more than Adelboden's 12.9, and its longest run we measure is a black, Tabuc, 3.3 kilometres with 632 metres of drop. Adelboden's longest is a blue, Strubel, 1.8 kilometres with 327 metres. The itinerary is near level: 1.7 kilometres against 1.6.

Who each one actually suits

Adelboden suits a family who want a traditional Swiss chalet village, and that is what is on its list: tradition, families and the World Cup. Its blues are the gentler of the two on our measure, which suits improvers, and it has more red and black for its size, which keeps a group of mixed intermediates busy. It suits a group flying to Zurich or Geneva.

Serre Chevalier suits a group that wants a lot of skiing and a quiet, relaxed week in the sun, with tree skiing, sunshine and value on its list. We do not tag it a family resort, but the green is there for first timers, and its reds have some bite for the confident. It suits anyone who wants most of the skiing high, and anyone for whom Turin or Grenoble is the easier flight.

The bit nobody tells you

Colour for colour, Serre Chevalier is the steeper mountain on our measure. Its blues average 16.8 percent against Adelboden's 14.5, its reds 24.9 against 21.3, and its blacks 27.8 against 26.1. Its reds are the tenth steepest of the 55 resorts we cover. Part of that is grading: a typical Swiss red averages 19.9 percent, a typical French red 24.3.

But on the measure we trust most across resorts, the two are close. Twenty seven percent of Serre Chevalier's piste is steeper than one in four, against 25 at Adelboden, and both have 38 percent gentler than 15 percent. These are averages per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch. What it means in practice: an improver moving onto blue runs will find Adelboden's kinder, while at Serre Chevalier the first week belongs on the green, and there is plenty of it.