Crans-Montana or Klosters: the sunny plateau or the quiet neighbour?
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20265 min read
Klosters and Crans-Montana are built the same way under the paint. Both are family resorts on our tags, both run from December to April, both are snow sure on our measure, and both have piste maps that look red and ski gentle. Our matching puts Crans-Montana second on Klosters's list of closest resorts anywhere.
So the question is not how gentle the skiing is, or how snowy. It is how the mountain is put together and what you want at the bottom of it: a sunny plateau with everything on one lift system and the village 309 metres higher, or a quiet, upmarket village that shares a mountain with Davos and has the gentlest reds of the 55 resorts we cover. The numbers first.
The numbers, side by side
| Figure | Crans-Montana | Klosters |
|---|---|---|
| Village altitude | 1,500 m | 1,191 m |
| Top of the skiing, measured | 2,868 m | 2,808 m |
| Linked ski area | 140 km, one linked area | Davos Klosters pass, sold as 300 km on six separate mountains; the Parsenn, 95.5 km, is shared with Davos |
| Piste we measure around the village | 85 km | 97 km |
| Blue and easier | 22 km, 26% of the piste | 24 km, 24% of the piste |
| Black | 12.9 km | 11.7 km |
| Marked off piste itinerary | 3.2 km | 6.5 km |
| Piste steeper than one in four | 22% | 15% |
| Piste gentler than 15% | 36% | 38% |
| Piste at or above 1,800 m | 79% | 69% |
| Season | December to April | December to April |
| Nearest airport | Geneva | Zurich |
Crans-Montana takes the village height, the joined up area and the share of skiing above 1,800 metres. Klosters takes the piste count, the itinerary and the gentler gradients. The blue row is close to a tie, and small at both.
Size: Crans-Montana joins up, Klosters reaches further
Crans-Montana's skiing is one linked area of 140 kilometres, a figure three independent sources agree on to the kilometre. Our own count of the graded piste around the village is tighter, at 85, and that is the figure to plan a week on.
Klosters has no figure for the village alone. Its pass, shared with Davos, is sold as 300 kilometres and measured at 224 across the same ten lift areas, on six separate mountains. Only the Parsenn, with 95.5 kilometres and 18 lifts, is genuinely shared by the two villages. Klosters reaches it by the Gotschna cable car, and its other hill is Madrisa. The rest needs a train, a bus or a car.
Around the village we measure 97 kilometres of piste at Klosters, 11.7 more than at Crans-Montana. So Klosters has more to explore, if you do not mind a train in the morning, and Crans-Montana has all of its skiing on one system, which makes it the easier family week.
Altitude: Crans-Montana starts higher, and keeps more of it high
Crans-Montana's village sits at 1,500 metres, the joint fifth highest of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover and 309 above Klosters's 1,191. The tops are close: the skiing reaches 2,868 metres by our measure at Crans-Montana and 2,808 at Klosters, 60 apart.
Both are snow sure on our measure. At Crans-Montana, 79 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, up to 2,868 metres, the fourth largest share of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover. At Klosters it is 69 percent, up to 2,808. Nobody can promise snow, but more of a Crans-Montana week sits above that line, and its lowest piste ends at 1,463 metres, just under the village.
The skiing: both ski kinder than they look, Klosters most of all
Read the maps alone and you might send a nervous skier somewhere else. Klosters has 24 kilometres of blue and easier piste and Crans-Montana 22. Only five of the 55 resorts we cover have less than Klosters, and Crans-Montana is one of them.
22 km blue and easier 26%50 km red 59%13 km black 15%
24 km blue and easier 24%62 km red 64%12 km black 12%
Marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste totals: Crans-Montana 3.2 km, Klosters 7 km.
The gradients disagree. They are averages per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, so read them as the feel of a week rather than a verdict on any one run. Klosters's reds average 17.1 percent and its blacks 21.1, the gentlest reds and the gentlest blacks of the 55 resorts we cover. Crans-Montana's reds average 19.2 percent, against a typical Swiss red at 19.9, and only five of the 55 we cover have gentler reds, Klosters among them.
Klosters is the gentler mountain overall. Fifteen percent of its piste is steeper than one in four, against 22 at Crans-Montana, and 38 percent is gentler than 15 percent, against 36. The exception is the blues, which average 15.9 percent at Klosters and 13.3 at Crans-Montana, against a typical Swiss blue at 15.0. A beginner will find Crans-Montana's the kinder.
At the hard end, Crans-Montana has 12.9 kilometres of black against 11.7, and steeper, averaging 27.1 percent against 21.1. Its longest piste is a 4 kilometre black with 843 metres of vertical. Klosters answers with marked off piste itinerary, 6.5 kilometres against 3.2. We score every resort for four levels of skier, and those scores put the two level for intermediates, Crans-Montana ahead for improvers and Klosters ahead for strong skiers.
Who each one actually suits
Crans-Montana suits families, and anyone who skis for the light. Sunshine is first on our list of what it does best, then golf and spa, then families, and our read on it is sunny and smart. It suits improvers and intermediates who want one lift system with most of it high, gentle blues for the newest skiers and kind reds for everyone else. Geneva is the airport.
Klosters suits people who would rather not be noticed. Our read is discreet and pretty, and we tag it upmarket, quiet and good for families. It suits a group that wants the gentlest reds of the 55 resorts we cover and a bigger pass to wander, with the Davos link on its list, and a strong skier who would take marked itinerary over steep black. Zurich is the airport.
The bit nobody tells you
Klosters's village is 309 metres lower, so you would expect its skiing to sit lower too. Up the mountain it does not. Half of Klosters's piste is above 2,046 metres, against 2,010 at Crans-Montana, and the highest 10 percent of it is above 2,442, against 2,329.
The difference is all at the bottom. Klosters's lowest piste reaches 988 metres, 203 below the village, while Crans-Montana's stops at 1,463. That is why Crans-Montana wins on the share above 1,800 metres. If your group will spend the week high on the mountain, the two are closer than the village heights suggest. If you care about the bottom of the mountain too, Crans-Montana keeps more of it high.
So, which one
you want the whole mountain on one lift system, a higher village, more of the piste above 1,800 metres and kinder blues for a beginner, with sunshine, golf and spa on the side. Also if Geneva is your easier flight.
quiet and discretion are the point of the week, you want the gentlest reds and blacks of the 55 resorts we cover and more marked itinerary, and a bigger pass shared with Davos appeals, train and all. Also if you fly to Zurich.
Both give you a gentle family week that is snow sure on our measure, and Crans-Montana makes it simpler: one joined up area, a higher village, kinder blues and more of the skiing above 1,800 metres. Klosters wins when the hush and the softest gradients are what you are going for.