Love Ischgl? Where to go next for the snow, the nights or the long red miles

Sölden is the closest match to Ischgl we measure, anywhere, and it keeps the half most alternatives drop: it is lively, sporty by our read, with nightlife on the list of what it does best. The village sits at 1,368 metres, nine below Ischgl's, and the season runs from late November to May, the same both ends.

Then it goes higher. Sölden's skiing reaches 3,306 metres on two glaciers, measured, the highest top of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover and 438 metres above Ischgl's. And 89 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, against Ischgl's 90. On snow, it is at least as good a bet.

The skiing is a touch smaller and differently shaped. We measure 135 kilometres around Sölden against 152, and 30 percent of it is steeper than one in four against 34. There is far more blue, 77 kilometres and 57 percent of the piste against Ischgl's 43 and 28, which suits a mixed group better. But its reds are steeper, averaging 23.7 percent against 20.7, so do not assume the long, kind cruising carries over exactly.

The trade is the hard end and the crossing. Sölden has 19 kilometres of black against 27, though they average steeper, 33.3 percent against 29.9. It has no marked itinerary in our data, against Ischgl's 11 kilometres. And there is no border to ski across, so no lunch in Switzerland and no duty free afternoon.

If the evenings are the point, and you have started to want more from the days in between, St Anton is the swap. It is lively in the same way, energetic and social by our read, and on paper the two mountains are almost the same size: we measure 155 kilometres around St Anton against 152 around Ischgl. The village is at 1,304 metres, the skiing reaches 2,799, and both are within a hundred metres of Ischgl's.

What changes is how hard it is. Forty three percent of St Anton's piste is steeper than one in four, the joint second highest share of the 55 resorts we cover, against Ischgl's 34. Its reds average 25.8 percent against 20.7, and its blacks 34.1 against 29.9. And it has 70 kilometres of marked itinerary, the most of the 55, against 11. For a strong skier who goes to Ischgl for the nights, that is the whole argument.

The trade is the kindness and a little of the snow. The long, forgiving reds that carry an Ischgl intermediate all week are not what St Anton does. It is snow sure on our measure, 71 percent of the piste we measure above 1,800 metres, up to 2,799 metres, but that is less of it at height than Ischgl's 90. And the season runs December to April, shorter at both ends.

Livigno is the Italian answer. It is lively, by our read, and it shares one thing with Ischgl that the other routes here do not: it is duty free, which an Ischgl regular who has spent an afternoon shopping across the border in Samnaun will understand immediately.

It is also much higher. The village sits at 1,816 metres, 439 above Ischgl's, and every kilometre of piste we measure there is above 1,800 metres, joint highest of the 55 resorts we cover, up to 2,767 metres. That is snow sure on our measure, and the season is the same late November to May.

It is not a gentler mountain. Forty percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, the fifth highest share of the 55, against Ischgl's 34, and the blues average 17.8 percent, the joint fourth steepest of the 55. Italian grading usually runs kind; here the measured shares say otherwise, so judge it by those.

The trade is size and the black. Livigno's area is 115 kilometres in two sectors that face each other across the valley with no lift between them, and we measure 81 kilometres of piste against Ischgl's 152. It has 9 kilometres of black against 27, and no marked itinerary in our data. A week here is a smaller playground, higher up.

For the Ischgl skier who loves the days and has had enough of the nights, Sestriere keeps the skiing really close and turns the volume down. We do not class it as lively. It is high and practical, built for skiing, and sits on the Milky Way.

The snow is the same story, with the village much higher. The village sits at 2,035 metres, the fourth highest of the 55 resorts we cover and 658 above Ischgl's, and 91 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to 2,788. Snow sure on our measure, and a near tie with Ischgl's 90.

And the skiing is close in shape. We measure 160 kilometres of piste around the village, the most of the 10 Italian resorts we cover, against Ischgl's 152. More than half of it is red, 58 percent against 54, and those reds average 21.1 percent against Ischgl's 20.7. It even has almost exactly the same marked itinerary, 10.8 kilometres against 10.6. The blues are kinder still, averaging 12.0 percent, the second gentlest of the 55.

The trade is the evenings and some of the top end. There are 18 kilometres of black against 27, 30 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four against 34, and the season runs December to April rather than late November to May.