Crans-Montana or Madonna di Campiglio: the higher plateau or the bigger, gentler week

Size: Madonna has more, and much more of it easy

On the quoted figures the two are close. Madonna's lift linked area, its own sector joined to Pinzolo and Folgarida Marilleva, comes to 155 kilometres. Crans-Montana's is 140, a figure three independent sources agree on to the kilometre. Both are genuinely joined up, so neither involves a bus to reach the far side.

Our own measurement, the tighter count, finds a wider gap: 115 kilometres of piste around Madonna against 85 around Crans-Montana, about 30 more. And the gap is at the easy end. Madonna has 54 kilometres of blue and easier piste, the second most of the 10 Italian resorts we cover. Crans-Montana has 22, and only four of the 55 resorts we cover have less.

For a family, that is the number that matters most. It is the difference between a child just out of ski school finding new blue runs all week and running out of them part way through.

Altitude: level at the door, Crans-Montana higher above it

The two villages sit 50 metres apart, Crans-Montana at 1,500 and Madonna at 1,550. Above them, the mountains part company. Crans-Montana's skiing reaches 2,868 metres by our measure, 372 higher than Madonna's 2,496.

The height runs all the way through. Seventy nine percent of the piste we measure around Crans-Montana is above 1,800 metres, against 61 percent at Madonna, and about twice the share clears 2,000 metres: 51 percent against 26. Half of Crans-Montana's piste sits above 2,010 metres, half of Madonna's above 1,882. At the other end, the lowest run we measure in Madonna's area finishes at 853 metres; at Crans-Montana, 1,463.

Crans-Montana counts as snow sure on our measure: 79 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to 2,868 metres. At Madonna, 61 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to 2,496 metres. Nobody can promise snow, but if your dates sit early or late in the season, Crans-Montana has more of its skiing well up the mountain.

The skiing: the same shape, steeper at Crans-Montana

The shares are close to identical. Thirty six percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent at both, and 15 percent of the piste is black at both. What differs is the middle and the top. At Crans-Montana, 22 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four; at Madonna, 18 percent, both below the 26 at a typical resort we cover. Neither is a mountain for steep seekers.

Who each one actually suits

Madonna di Campiglio suits families, couples and groups who care how a resort looks and how lunch tastes. Its grooming is the signature, corduroy every morning, and Pradalago, straight from the centre, is where most families start. Confident intermediates head up to Grostè for the long reds under the limestone towers, and the Spinale and 5 Laghi give stronger skiers something steeper. The centre is pedestrian and smart, lunch is a long one in the rifugi, and the evening is an aperitivo rather than a party. Non skiers have cross country trails, skating and a centre worth wandering.

Crans-Montana suits people who want sunshine, smartness and height. It is on our list for sunshine, golf and spa, and families, and its sunny plateau with wide views over the Rhône is the picture that sells it. It suits confident intermediates who spend their week on red, and families whose children are already happy on blue and ready for the next thing. It suits a group less well if several people need a long week of easy blue runs.

The bit nobody tells you

Crans-Montana is a family resort with very little blue, which sounds like a contradiction. The reds explain it. Measured, they average 19.2 percent, gentler than the Swiss average of 19.9, and only five of the 55 resorts we cover have gentler reds. Madonna's reds average 19.7, against an Italian average of 20.4.

So at Crans-Montana the reds do much of the work blues do elsewhere. A child or an improver who is steady on a blue can move on to them early, and 59 percent of the piste is red. That is a real advantage for a family a week or two past the nursery slopes. For a family on its first week, it is no substitute for Madonna's 54 kilometres of blue.