Love Grindelwald? Where to go next for the view, the gentle runs or more snow

If you love Grindelwald for skiing through scenery that stops you mid turn, the Dolomites are the answer, and Val Gardena is the place to start. Our read of it is scenic and traditional, a classic Dolomite valley, and scenery is on its list of what it does best, as it is on Grindelwald's. Our matching finds it close on size, on steepness and on character.

It skis like home. Only 13 percent of Val Gardena's piste is steeper than one in four, the second smallest share of the 55 resorts we cover, against Grindelwald's 15. Forty percent is gentler than 15 percent, against 42, and its reds average 17.3 percent, against your 18.3. The piste map will tell you otherwise, because most of it is graded red: 86.5 kilometres of red against 42 of blue and easier. Grades do not travel between countries, so trust the measured shares over the colours.

And it is higher. The village sits at 1,563 metres, 529 above Grindelwald's, and 66 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres. The top of the lifts is 2,731 metres, and on that our measure calls it snow sure. The highest piste we measure, though, is 2,480 metres, a touch below Grindelwald's 2,496, so the extra height is in the village and the middle of the mountain, not at the top.

It goes further, too. Val Gardena's own sector is 175 kilometres, against the 150 you can ski from Grindelwald's lifts. It also sits on the Sellaronda circuit, and from there you can reach roughly 500 kilometres by lift with no bus. Dolomiti Superski does not publish that number; it is our own rough sum of measured kilometres. Ignore the 1,200 on the Dolomiti Superski pass, which spans twelve areas, only four of them joined.

Of every resort we cover, our matching puts Klosters nearest to Grindelwald, and it keeps you in Switzerland. Our read of it is discreet and pretty, and we tag it, as we tag Grindelwald, for families.

Underfoot it is almost the same mountain. Fifteen percent of its piste is steeper than one in four, exactly Grindelwald's share, and 38 percent is gentler than 15 percent, against 42. If anything it is kinder: no resort we cover has gentler reds than Klosters, at 17.1 percent, or gentler blacks, at 21.1.

What changes is the snow. The village is at 1,191 metres, 157 above Grindelwald's, but the skiing reaches 2,808 metres by our measurement, 312 above Grindelwald's top, and 69 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against 59. On our measure Klosters is snow sure.

The trade is size and character. We measure 97 kilometres of piste around Klosters, against 132, and only 24 of them are blue and easier on the map, so it looks redder than it skis. Its main mountain, the Parsenn, is reached by the Gotschna cable car and shared with Davos; otherwise there is Madrisa. We tag it upmarket and quiet rather than traditional. And there is no north face over breakfast.

Samoëns is the closest match to Grindelwald our matching finds in France, and of our picks it is the only one that keeps both of the things we tag Grindelwald by: traditional, and good for families. Our read of it is authentic and calm, a listed old village with a big area above it, and the airport is Geneva.

The skiing is gentle in the same way. Forty percent of its piste is gentler than 15 percent, against Grindelwald's 42, and its reds average 19.9 percent, the gentlest of the 17 French resorts we cover. A little more of it is steep, 19 percent against 15. And if what you love is a run that feels like a journey, the longest piste we measure at Samoëns is a 6.3 kilometre red with 867 metres of vertical, longer than anything we measure at Grindelwald.

The trade is altitude, and it is a big one. The village is at 720 metres, 314 below Grindelwald's and the lowest of the 17 French resorts we cover. Only 18 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against 59, and the skiing tops out at 2,372 metres by our measurement, 124 below Grindelwald's. It is smaller around the village too: its area figure is not classified in our data, and we measure 89.5 kilometres, against 132. Choose it for the village and the family week, in a good winter.