Cervinia or Tignes: two high resorts, two very different reds

Altitude and snow: both near the top of our list

Tignes's village, at 2,100 metres, is the second highest of the 55 we cover, and Cervinia's, at 2,050, the third. On top, Cervinia goes higher. Its measured top of the skiing is 3,869 metres, the joint highest of the 55 we cover, level with Zermatt because that summit is on the glacier lifts the two share, so check your pass before planning a day around it. Tignes reaches 3,449 metres on the Grande Motte glacier, the highest of the 17 French resorts we cover, and the top of the glacier has easy runs on it, so the whole group can ski up there.

Both pass our snow sure test with plenty to spare. At Cervinia, 99 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to 3,869 metres. At Tignes it is 97 percent, up to 3,449. Those are the joint third and joint fifth biggest shares of the 55 resorts we cover. Half of Cervinia's piste sits above 2,702 metres, half of Tignes's above 2,441. Nobody can promise snow, but if you are booking early or late in the season, these two have more margin than almost anywhere we cover.

Size: Tignes gives you all of it on one pass

On paper Cervinia's area is the bigger one: 322 kilometres measured with Zermatt, against Espace Killy's 300, a figure we have checked against our own measurement. In practice, Cervinia's number comes with conditions. The Swiss side needs the separate International pass, and the high crossing can close in wind. On its own, the Italian side is about 120 kilometres, though sources range from 104 to 150.

Tignes's 300 kilometres are all on one pass, with Val d'Isère a ski away. Around the villages themselves, we measure 130 kilometres of piste at Tignes and 116 at Cervinia. Day to day, more of the skiing at Tignes is yours, whatever the wind does.

The skiing: Cervinia is a long cruise, Tignes covers every level

Cervinia is lopsided, and that is its charm. Seventy two percent of its piste is red, 83 kilometres of it, and only one resort we cover has a less even split between easy, red and black. But those reds are wide, long and kind. Only 15 percent of Cervinia's piste is steeper than one in four, against 26 at a typical resort we cover, and 39 percent is gentler than 15 percent. Its longest run we measure is a 5.3 kilometre red that drops 741 metres.

Who each one actually suits

Cervinia suits improvers, families and confident intermediates who want to ski long, sunny runs at their own pace all week. It suits groups who like the idea of skiing to Zermatt for lunch and back. The village is functional rather than charming, the food is Italian and generous, and the evenings are easy: an aperitivo as the lifts close, then pizza or pasta. Strong skiers will find the piste gentle and should look to the off piste.

Tignes suits mixed groups who want every level covered on one mountain, strong skiers who want the black and the itinerary, and anyone who wants ski in ski out to be the normal way of things. The glacier gives the whole group a high, easy start. Its villages each have their own feel: Val Claret handy for the glacier funicular and busy, Tignes le Lac the centre of things by the lake, Le Lavachet a little quieter. Evenings are lively without being wild, and there is an aquatic centre for the day the legs give out.

The bit nobody tells you

Cervinia's reds average a gradient of 18.1 percent, and only three of the 55 resorts we cover have gentler reds. Tignes's blues average 17.6 percent, steeper than all but six of the 55 we cover, and above the 16.2 percent of a typical French blue. Put those side by side and the average Cervinia red is half a percentage point steeper than the average Tignes blue.

That turns the usual advice on its head. An improver who has just found their feet on blue will find many of Tignes's blues a stretch, and much of Cervinia's red a pleasure. For a confident skier it hardly matters. For the least confident member of your group, it may matter more than anything else on this page.