Andermatt or Courmayeur: the bigger mountain or the steeper one?
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20266 min read
Andermatt and Courmayeur are both on our expert list, both have off piste near the top of what they are known for, and both run from December to April. Our matching engine puts each second on the other's list of closest resorts anywhere. If you ski hard and want snow beyond the piste markers, you have probably looked at both.
They go about it in very different ways. Andermatt is a snowy sleeper in the middle of Switzerland, reborn and up and coming, with a big linked area and a lot of marked off piste. Courmayeur is a chic stone town on the Italian side of Mont Blanc, made for lunch, with a compact piste area, some of the steepest blacks of the 55 resorts we cover and the high, guided off piste of Mont Blanc above it. So the question is whether you want more mountain, or a sharper one with a town at the bottom. The numbers first.
The numbers, side by side
| Figure | Andermatt | Courmayeur |
|---|---|---|
| Village altitude | 1,444 m | 1,224 m |
| Top of the skiing, measured | 2,922 m | 2,715 m |
| Linked ski area | 180 km on the Andermatt-Sedrun-Disentis pass | Published as 100 km including off piste; 41.5 km of piste on skiresort.com's measure |
| Piste we measure around the village | 61 km | 42 km |
| Blue and easier | 27 km, 44% of the piste | 16 km, 38% of the piste |
| Black | 8.3 km | 4.6 km |
| Marked off piste itinerary | 21 km | 3.3 km |
| Piste steeper than one in four | 27% | 32% |
| Piste gentler than 15% | 29% | 35% |
| Piste at or above 1,800 m | 76% | 72% |
| Season | December to April | December to April |
| Nearest airport | Zurich | Turin or Geneva |
Andermatt leads on nearly every row that counts quantity: piste, height, black, itinerary. Courmayeur leads on the row that counts steepness, and on the share of gentle piste too.
Size: Andermatt has much more to ski
Andermatt's pass covers 180 kilometres across Andermatt, Sedrun and Disentis. The operator also quotes 120 kilometres for Andermatt and Sedrun alone, and the Gemsstock sits outside the linked area.
Courmayeur publishes 100 kilometres, but in its own words that is groomed slopes and off piste together. Measured by skiresort.com, the pisted runs come to 41.5 kilometres, and our own measure of the graded piste around the village comes to 42, the least of the 55 resorts we cover. Around Andermatt we measure 61, which is 19 more.
So on piste alone, Andermatt is the bigger week by some way. Courmayeur makes up part of the gap in other directions. Chamonix is through the Mont Blanc tunnel, so a day on the French side is easy to add, and the off piste above the town is a different scale of thing altogether.
Altitude: Andermatt is higher everywhere it counts
Andermatt's village sits at 1,444 metres, 220 above Courmayeur's 1,224, and its skiing tops out at 2,922 metres by our measure, 207 metres higher than Courmayeur's 2,715. The gap is widest in the middle of the mountain. Of the piste we measure, 64 percent is above 2,000 metres at Andermatt and 35 percent at Courmayeur. Half of Andermatt's piste sits above 2,122 metres; half of Courmayeur's sits above 1,940.
Both pass our snow sure test, which asks for more than half the piste at or above 1,800 metres and skiing that reaches 2,500. At Andermatt, 76 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to 2,922 metres, and snowfall is one of the things it is known for. At Courmayeur it is 72 percent, up to 2,715 metres. Nobody can promise snow, but Andermatt has more of its skiing well up the hill.
Courmayeur does have one card here. The Skyway Monte Bianco cable car climbs from Entrèves to Punta Helbronner, at about 3,466 metres. That is not piste skiing. It is a viewing platform and the start of guided descents.
The skiing: Andermatt has more, Courmayeur has more bite
Courmayeur's piste is the steeper. Of what we measure, 32 percent is steeper than one in four, against 27 at Andermatt. These gradients are averages per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, so read them as how the week feels rather than a verdict on any one run. Courmayeur's reds average 24.3 percent, the steepest of the 10 Italian resorts we cover, and Andermatt's 22.0. Both sit above their own country's average for a red.
27 km blue and easier 44%26 km red 43%8 km black 14%
16 km blue and easier 38%22 km red 51%4.6 km black 11%
Marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste totals: Andermatt 21 km, Courmayeur 3.3 km.
Andermatt has more kilometres of everything else. It has 27 kilometres of blue and easier piste, 11 more than Courmayeur's 16, and 8.3 kilometres of black against 4.6. Then there is the off piste that is marked: 21 kilometres of itinerary at Andermatt, the fourth most of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, against 3.3 at Courmayeur. The longest itinerary we measure at Andermatt runs 5.5 kilometres with 1,170 metres of vertical. Courmayeur's longest is 3.3 kilometres with 883 metres.
Courmayeur's off piste reputation does not live in that 3.3 kilometres. It lives above the Skyway, in the high glacier descents of the Vallée Blanche area, which are always skied with a qualified guide. Andermatt has far more off piste that is marked; Courmayeur's is the big mountain kind, and it comes with a guide.
Who each one actually suits
Andermatt suits strong skiers who want quantity: a big linked area, a lot of marked off piste, and as much of the skiing high as they can get. Its name for snowfall will appeal to anyone who plans a trip around the snow, and the fact that it is up and coming appeals to people who like to find a place before everyone else does. Zurich is the airport.
Courmayeur suits couples, groups of friends who like a stylish evening, and families with grandparents along, as well as strong skiers who want a guide and Mont Blanc. The town is half the holiday: a pedestrian street, the Via Roma, full of cafés and bars, a long lunch on the mountain, and the Pré Saint Didier thermal spa down the valley for tired legs. It grew up as a base for guides and climbers, and that still shows. The main ski area is reached by cable car from the edge of town, so you ride up each morning rather than skiing from the door. It is not the place for anyone counting kilometres. Geneva and Turin both serve it.
The bit nobody tells you
Courmayeur has very little black run: 4.6 kilometres, and only four of the 55 resorts we cover have less. Read that alone and you might cross it off for a strong skier. Do not. Those blacks average a gradient of 36.4 percent, the fourth steepest of the 55 resorts we cover, against 30.7 at Andermatt.
So the two expert labels mean different things. Andermatt's is about room: a big, high area with plenty of marked off piste to explore. Courmayeur's is about edge: a few very steep blacks on piste, and serious guided terrain above them. A strong skier will be busy at either, but not in the same way.
So, which one
you want the most skiing for a strong group, more of it high, and a lot of marked off piste to work through. Also if snow is the first thing you check, or Zurich is your easiest flight.
the town, the food and the evening matter as much as the mountain, you want a few very steep blacks, or the trip is built around the Skyway and a guide. Also if a day in Chamonix appeals.
For a group that skis hard, it gives more of everything that group came for: more piste, more height and 21 kilometres of marked itinerary against 3.3. Courmayeur is the right answer when the town and a guided day under Mont Blanc are the point of the trip.