Love Lech? Where to go next for the polish, the mountain or the off piste

Madonna di Campiglio keeps both of the things we class Lech by: it is upmarket, and it is a family resort. It is smart and sociable by our read, set beneath the Brenta Dolomites, with style and grooming on the list of what it does best. The village is at 1,550 metres, 100 above Lech's, and its three sectors are joined by lift into one area of 155 kilometres.

On paper the two are twins. Lech is 45 percent blue or easier, 40 red and 15 black; Madonna is 47, 38 and 15. Even the snow reads the same on our measure: 61 percent of the piste above 1,800 metres at both, with Madonna's skiing topping out at 2,496 metres against Lech's 2,440.

Then you measure the slope. Only 18 percent of Madonna's piste is steeper than one in four, against Lech's 33, and its blues average 12.9 percent against 17.0. Italian grading runs kinder than Austrian, so the colours flatter the match and the measured share is the fair comparison. That is average gradient per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, but a gap this wide is not a quirk of the method.

The trade is everything at the hard end. Madonna has 17 kilometres of black against Lech's 26, and no marked itinerary at all in our data. Around the village we measure 115 kilometres of piste, against 175. For a family of cruisers who like a long lunch, that is no loss. For anyone who went to Lech for the steep, it is.

If it is the skiing you love, the balance that keeps the whole family busy, Méribel is the closest match to Lech we measure anywhere. The village sits at exactly the same 1,450 metres. About a third of the piste is steeper than one in four at both, 33 percent at Lech and 31 at Méribel, and the share gentler than 15 percent is 31 against 32. The blues average the same 17.0 percent. A Lech family would find nothing strange about the gradient.

Then there is more of it, and it sits higher. We measure 261 kilometres of piste around Méribel, the second most of the 55 resorts we cover, against Lech's 175, and the Three Valleys around it is quoted at 600 kilometres, a figure we have not measured ourselves. There are 156 kilometres of green and blue against Lech's 79 of blue and easier, and 30 kilometres of black against 26. And it is snow sure on our measure: 78 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to 2,891 metres.

The trade is the tone, and the off piste. Méribel is pretty and friendly, a chalet holiday resort, where Lech is refined and hushed. And it has 4.9 kilometres of marked itinerary against Lech's 56. If anyone in your group has been working through Lech's itineraries, they will feel the loss on the first morning.

Only one resort we cover has more marked itinerary than Lech, so this route is about the best balance rather than a like for like swap. Val d'Isère has 29 kilometres of marked itinerary, the fifth most of the 55 resorts we cover, and it keeps Lech's polish: we class it upmarket too. Then it adds height. The village sits at 1,850 metres, 400 above Lech's, and it is snow sure on our measure: 100 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, the joint highest share of the 55, up to 3,205 metres. Espace Killy, shared with Tignes, is 300 kilometres, and the season runs from late November to early May.

On the piste it is a touch gentler than Lech: 29 percent steeper than one in four against 33, and 22 kilometres of black against 26. A Lech skier will not feel short changed on the groomed runs.

The trade is the evenings and the family feel. Val d'Isère is lively after dark and built around strong skiers, where Lech is calm and built around families. And at 29 kilometres, it has about half Lech's itinerary.