Arosa or Lech: the height and the easy miles, or the steep and the off piste
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20266 min read
Arosa and Lech get compared because they look like the same idea. Both count families among what they do best, both sit in a linked area, and both run December to April. Around each village we measure about the same amount of piste, 183 kilometres at Arosa and 175 at Lech.
What differs is what that piste is like. Arosa is higher and gentler. Lech is steeper, with more black and far more marked off piste. So the question is not how much skiing you get. It is who in your group the skiing is for. The numbers first.
The numbers, side by side
| Figure | Arosa | Lech |
|---|---|---|
| Village altitude | 1,800 m | 1,450 m |
| Top of the skiing, measured | 2,848 m | 2,440 m |
| Linked ski area | Arosa Lenzerheide, 225 km, all linked | The Arlberg, shared with St Anton and Zürs. Its size is not yet classified by us |
| Piste we measure around the village | 183 km | 175 km |
| Blue and easier | 97 km, 53% of the piste | 79 km, 45% of the piste |
| Black | 14.5 km, 8% of the piste | 26 km, 15% of the piste |
| Marked off piste itinerary | 8.5 km | 56 km |
| Piste steeper than one in four | 24% | 33% |
| Piste gentler than 15% | 35% | 31% |
| Piste at or above 1,800 m | 65% | 61% |
| Season | December to April | December to April |
| Nearest airport | Zurich | Innsbruck or Zurich |
Read the table in two halves. The top half, height and the easy end, goes to Arosa. The bottom half, black, steep and itinerary, goes to Lech, and the itinerary row is not close.
Altitude: Arosa is higher, by less than the villages suggest
Arosa's village is at 1,800 metres, the second highest of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, and 350 metres above Lech's 1,450. The skiing goes higher too. The top of the skiing we measure at Arosa is 2,848 metres, 408 above Lech's 2,440.
On the piste the gap closes. Lech's skiing climbs well above its village, so 61 percent of the piste we measure there is at or above 1,800 metres, against 65 percent at Arosa. Half of Arosa's piste is above 1,922 metres; at Lech, half is above 1,880. That is a far smaller difference than 350 metres at the door.
Arosa counts as snow sure on our measure: 65 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to 2,848 metres. Lech passes the first half of that test and misses the second by 60 metres, so it sits close enough to our line that we will not make the call on the numbers alone. Nobody can promise snow at either. If you are booking right at the start or the end of the season, Arosa's height is the safer bet on paper.
Size: level around the village, different beyond it
Around the villages themselves the two are close: 183 kilometres of piste at Arosa, the most of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, against 175 at Lech. That is 8.2 kilometres between them, which you would not notice in a week.
Beyond the village they differ. Arosa Lenzerheide is one domain of 225 kilometres, two valleys joined by a single cable car, and three sources agree on the figure. Lech sits in the Arlberg, on one pass with Zürs, Stuben, Warth, Schröcken and, over the hill, St Anton. We have not yet classified the Arlberg's size, so we will not print a figure for it. It is big, it is varied, and St Anton gives Lech's strong skiers somewhere harder to go.
The skiing: Arosa is the easy one, Lech the serious one
Arosa has more at the easy end: 97 kilometres of blue and easier piste, the most of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, against 79 at Lech. Thirty five percent of Arosa's piste is gentler than 15 percent, against 31 at Lech.
97 km blue and easier 53%72 km red 39%15 km black 8%
79 km blue and easier 45%70 km red 40%26 km black 15%
Marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste totals: Arosa 9 km, Lech 56 km.
Lech has more at the other end. A third of its piste, 33 percent, is steeper than one in four, against 24 at Arosa and 26 at a typical resort we cover. It has 26 kilometres of black, nearly twice Arosa's 14.5. And it has 56 kilometres of marked off piste itinerary, the second most of the 55 resorts we cover. Lech's longest, the Wöster Bockbachtal, is 8.5 kilometres on its own with 827 metres of vertical. That single route matches Arosa's entire marked total.
Arosa's blacks, though fewer, are not soft. Measured from the gradient they average 32.4 percent, the steepest of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover and well over the Swiss average of 26.7. Lech's average 30.8, against an Austrian 30.3. These are averages per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, so take them as the feel of a week rather than a verdict on any one run.
Who each one actually suits
Arosa suits families with young or improving skiers, and anyone who wants sunshine and skiing that is snow sure on our measure. Our read on it is gentle and sunny, and families top the list of what it does best. It suits a group who want the height, the easy kilometres and one linked area whose size is not in doubt, and it is reached from Zurich.
Lech suits people who care as much about where they eat and how the village looks as about the skiing. It is pretty in the classic way, a river through the middle and low roofs, kept that way by tight rules on building. Families do well in Oberlech, above the village, car free and ski in ski out, reached by cable car. The White Ring circuit through Lech, Oberlech, Zürs and Zug is a day out for confident skiers of most levels. The evenings are refined, a hotel bar and a fire rather than a table to dance on, and St Anton's noise is a lift ride and a transfer away when the group wants it. Above all, Lech suits a strong skier who wants to leave the piste: 56 kilometres of marked itinerary is a different holiday from 8.5.
The bit nobody tells you
Lech's reputation is for calm and quiet money, and it is easy to assume the skiing is as gentle as the village. It is not. A third of its piste is steeper than one in four, more than at a typical resort we cover. Its blues average 17 percent, above the Austrian average of 16.4. Arosa's average 15.4, close to the Swiss 15.0.
For a strong skier that is all to the good. For a family with improvers, it means the blue runs at Lech will feel stiffer than the name suggests, and the easy kilometres are fewer. If the least confident skier in your group sets the pace, that matters more than the itinerary count.
So, which one
your group is a family with young or nervous skiers, you want the extra height and the most easy piste of either, and you like knowing exactly how big your linked area is. Also if a sunny, gentle week in Switzerland is the brief.
your strongest skiers set the agenda: more steep, nearly twice the black, the second most marked itinerary of any resort we cover, and St Anton on the same pass. Also if a pretty, refined village and serious food are half the point of the week.
It gives you about the same amount of piste as Lech, higher up and easier on the less confident, and on our measure it clears the snow line that Lech sits right on. Lech is the right answer when you know your group wants its steep and its off piste, and then it is not a close call.