Love Zürs? Where to go next for the off piste, the high village or the quiet

Val d'Isère is our engine's closest match to Zürs in France, and it keeps more of the mountain than any other pick here. We class it upmarket and expert, and our one line is a high altitude classic that skis big and stays up late.

It keeps the off piste: 29 kilometres of marked itinerary, the fifth most of the 55 resorts we cover. That is less than Zürs's 40, but the longest single route we measure there, the Col Pers, runs 4.9 kilometres with 917 metres of descent. It keeps the gradient, near enough: 29 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 33, and the reds average 23.9 percent against 24.2. Grades do not travel well between countries, so trust the measured figures over the colours.

Then it settles the snow. The village is at 1,850 metres, 130 above Zürs's, and 100 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, the joint highest share of the 55 we cover, up to 3,205 metres. On our measure it is snow sure by a distance. Espace Killy, shared with Tignes, is 300 kilometres, and we measure 158 around the village alone, with 22 kilometres of black against 6. The season runs from late November to early May.

The trade is the hush. Lively evenings are on Val d'Isère's list, and we tag it lively where Zürs is quiet. You fly to Geneva.

If what you love is the exclusive village and the height it sits at, St Moritz goes one better on both. We class it upmarket; our read is glamorous and sunny, and our one line is glamour, sunshine and a lake full of events. The village is at 1,822 metres, the highest of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover and 102 above Zürs's.

The snow is the gain. Ninety seven percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, the joint fifth highest share of the 55 we cover, up to 3,266 metres, so on our measure it is snow sure. Its own domain measures about 106 kilometres, and the 350 you may see quoted is a pass across separate mountains: Corviglia, Corvatsch and Diavolezza. There are 15.7 kilometres of black against 6.

The trade is the off piste, the steep and the quiet. St Moritz has no marked itinerary at all in our data, against Zürs's 40. Only 24 percent of its piste is steeper than one in four, against 33, and its reds average 21.0 percent against 24.2. A typical Swiss red, at 19.9, is gentler than an Austrian one, at 23.4, so read the share rather than the colours: this is a kinder mountain. And we do not tag St Moritz quiet. Glamour and the events are the point of it.

Our engine puts Bormio second closest to Zürs of all the resorts we cover, and it is the pick that keeps both the quiet and the steep. It is a historic spa town with a famous top to bottom run, historic and relaxed by our read, and we class it traditional and quiet.

On the gradient it is very close: 32 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 33, and its blacks average 35.7 percent, the sixth steepest of the 55 resorts we cover. It reaches higher, too: 3,001 metres, measured, 561 above Zürs's top, with 76 percent of the piste at or above 1,800 metres, against your 74. On our measure it is snow sure.

The trade is the polish and the off piste. We do not class Bormio upmarket, and its marked itinerary is 4.0 kilometres against 40. Its own mountain is 50 kilometres; the Alta Valtellina pass covers four separate valleys, and everything beyond Bormio's own mountain needs transport. The village is at 1,225 metres, 495 below Zürs's. And there is very little easy ground: 12 kilometres of blue and easier, the least of the 55 resorts we cover, against Zürs's 31. Fine for a Zürs skier, harder on anyone who came along for the quiet. You fly to Bergamo or Milan.