Andermatt or Zürs: the higher mountain or the quieter village?

Altitude: Zürs sleeps higher, Andermatt skis higher

Zürs's village is at 1,720 metres, 276 above Andermatt's 1,444 and the second highest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover. If height at the door is the thing you want, Zürs has it.

Then the order flips. Measured from the run geometry, Andermatt's skiing tops out at 2,922 metres and Zürs's at 2,440, which is 482 metres lower. The middle of the mountain follows the top. Of the piste we measure, 64 percent is above 2,000 metres at Andermatt and 47 percent at Zürs, and half of Andermatt's piste sits above 2,122 metres, where half of Zürs's sits above 1,984.

That shows up in the snow test, which asks for more than half the piste at or above 1,800 metres and skiing that reaches 2,500. Andermatt passes: 76 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to 2,922, and snowfall is on its list of what it does best. Zürs is right behind on the first part, with 74 percent above 1,800 metres, but its skiing stops 60 metres short of the line. That call is one we have not made yet, either way. Nobody can promise snow at either. Andermatt simply has more of its skiing higher up.

Size: more piste at Zürs, a pass we can count at Andermatt

Around Zürs we measure 75 kilometres of piste, 13.5 more than the 61 around Andermatt. Neither is big on its own doorstep: of the 55 resorts we cover, only seven measure less than Zürs, and only four less than Andermatt.

Beyond the village, the two are counted differently. Andermatt's pass covers 180 kilometres across Andermatt, Sedrun and Disentis, and the operator also publishes 120 for Andermatt and Sedrun alone; the Gemsstock sits outside the linked area. Zürs shares the Arlberg pass with Lech and St Anton, and we have not yet classified the Arlberg's size, so we quote no total for it. On the one measure we hold for both, Zürs has more near the door.

The skiing: Zürs is steeper on the piste, Andermatt has the long way down

Of the piste we measure at Zürs, 33 percent is steeper than one in four. At Andermatt it is 27 percent, close to the 26 at a typical resort we cover. Grades are not set the same way in Austria and Switzerland, so trust the measured share over the colours. The gradients agree: Zürs's reds average 24.2 percent and Andermatt's 22.0, each above its own country's average for a red, 23.4 in Austria and 19.9 in Switzerland. These 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.

Who each one actually suits

Andermatt suits strong skiers who want their skiing high and an off piste descent with real length to it. Off piste, snowfall and being up and coming are what it does best, and the one trait we tag it with is expert. It suits people who like to find a place before everyone else does, and its piste is the kinder of the two for anyone still building confidence, though neither has much easy ground. Zurich is the airport.

Zürs suits confident skiers who want a quiet, exclusive village, high at the door, and days on the marked itineraries. Our read on it is exclusive and quiet, and we tag it upmarket and quiet, where Andermatt is neither. It is not the place for a nervous beginner. You can fly to Innsbruck or Zurich.

The bit nobody tells you

The labels point one way and the piste points the other. Andermatt is the resort we tag expert. Zürs is the quiet, polished one. Yet on the piste, Zürs is the stiffer test from the bottom up.

Its blues average 17.5 percent, the joint eighth steepest of the 55 resorts we cover and above the Austrian average of 16.4. Andermatt's average 15.5, near the Swiss 15.0. Only 21 percent of Zürs's piste is gentler than 15 percent, the smallest share of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, against 29 percent at Andermatt. Andermatt earns its expert label off the piste and up high. Zürs's quiet belongs to the village, not the mountain. If your group has an improver in it, that matters more than either reputation.