Love Samoëns? Where to go next for the old village, a bigger circuit or the gentle runs higher up

Of all 55 resorts we cover, our matching engine puts Grindelwald closest to Samoëns. It keeps two of the three things we tag Samoëns with, traditional and family, and its mountain is just as kind. It is postcard pretty, skiing beneath the north face of the Eiger, and one of its two airports is Geneva.

The measured gradients bear that out. Forty two percent of its piste is gentler than 15 percent, the third biggest share of the 55 resorts we cover, and only 15 percent is steeper than one in four. Its reds average 18.3 percent and its blues 13.5, both gentler than yours. Swiss grades run kinder than French ones, so trust these measured averages over the colours.

And there is more of it: 132 kilometres of piste measured around the village against your 89.5, and 19 kilometres of black against 9.2, which gives the strongest skier in the family more to do. From Grindelwald's own lifts you can reach 150 kilometres of the Jungfrau Ski Region. The pass says 211, but that includes Mürren and the Schilthorn, which are not joined by lift.

Height is the reason to go. The village sits at 1,034 metres, 314 above yours, and 59 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against 18 at Samoëns. The skiing tops out at 2,496 metres by our measurement, four metres short of our 2,500 metre line, so we leave its snow sure call open. What is not in doubt is how much more of the skiing sits where snow tends to last. The trade is the calm: we tag Grindelwald traditional and family, but not quiet.

If the best of Samoëns is an old village with a lot of mountain above it, our engine's closest French answer is Les Gets. It is warm and traditional by our read, a pretty village at the gateway to the Portes du Soleil, tagged family as well and listed for tree skiing. The airport is Geneva again.

What changes is the size of the area. The Portes du Soleil is genuinely linked, twelve villages across two countries on one circuit, and we measure it at 580 kilometres. The official figure is 600 and an independent measurement says nearer 426, so treat it as very large rather than exact. Around Les Gets itself we measure 99.4 kilometres, a little more than your 89.5.

Then the catch. The village is higher than yours, at 1,172 metres, 452 above Samoëns. But the piste we measure around Les Gets tops out at 1,965 metres, 407 below your 2,372, and just 1 percent of it is at or above 1,800, the second smallest share of the 55 resorts we cover. You sleep higher and ski lower.

The skiing is a touch steeper as well. The blues are gentler than yours, 15.0 percent against 16.6, but the reds average 23.2 percent against your 19.9, 23 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four against 19, and the blacks average 33.2, the third steepest of the 17 French resorts we cover. A family on blues will barely notice; an intermediate who loves the easy Samoëns reds will.

If what you would miss is how gentle the mountain is, take that to the Dolomites. Val Gardena is a classic Dolomite valley on the Sellaronda, scenic and traditional by our read, and it keeps the traditional tag Samoëns carries.

Forty percent of its piste is gentler than 15 percent, exactly your figure and the same joint fourth place of the 55 resorts we cover. Only 13 percent is steeper than one in four, the second smallest share of the 55 resorts we cover, against your 19. Its reds average 17.3 percent and its blues 12.8, both well under yours. Italian grading paints much of it red, 86.5 kilometres against 42.4 of blue and easier, so read the gradients, remembering they are averages, rather than the colours.

The real difference is height. The village sits at 1,563 metres, 843 above yours, and 66 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800, against 18. The lifts reach 2,731 metres, and the highest piste we measure is 2,480, still 108 metres above your top. On our measure that makes Val Gardena snow sure, though the call rests on the top of the lifts rather than the top of the piste.

It is bigger, too. We measure 145.2 kilometres around the valley, and from a Sellaronda base around 500 can be reached by lift, our own rough sum rather than a published figure. The 1,200 on the Dolomiti Superski pass covers twelve areas, only four of them joined.

The trade is the calm and the family label: we tag Val Gardena traditional, but not quiet or family. There is more black, 16.4 kilometres against 9.2, and you fly to Innsbruck or Verona rather than Geneva.