Crans-Montana or Obertauern: the higher mountain or the higher village?
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20266 min read
Obertauern has the higher village. At 1,740 metres it is the highest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, 240 metres above Crans-Montana's. Crans-Montana has the higher mountain: its skiing reaches 2,868 metres by our measure, 564 above the top of Obertauern's. Our matching makes Crans-Montana the closest Swiss resort to Obertauern, and Obertauern the closest Austrian resort to Crans-Montana, on the share of gentle piste and the amount of skiing. It names the top as the biggest difference between them.
So the question is where you want the height, at the door or on the hill. It decides more than it sounds, because on our measure only one of them is snow sure. The numbers first.
The numbers, side by side
| Figure | Crans-Montana | Obertauern |
|---|---|---|
| Village altitude | 1,500 m | 1,740 m |
| Top of the skiing, measured | 2,868 m | 2,304 m |
| Linked ski area | 140 km, one linked area | Not yet classified in our data |
| Piste we measure around the village | 85 km | 73.7 km |
| Blue and easier | 22 km, 26% of the piste | 40.9 km, 55% of the piste |
| Black | 12.9 km | 4 km |
| Marked off piste itinerary | 3.2 km | None in our data |
| Piste steeper than one in four | 22% | 29% |
| Piste gentler than 15% | 36% | 36% |
| Piste at or above 1,800 m | 79% | 61% |
| Season | December to April | Late November to May |
| Nearest airport | Geneva | Salzburg |
Obertauern takes the village, the blue and the length of the season. Crans-Montana takes the top, the piste, the black and the share of skiing above 1,800 metres. The gentle row is a tie, and on the steep row Obertauern is the steeper, which is not the way round most people would guess.
Altitude: Obertauern is higher at the door, Crans-Montana everywhere else
Obertauern's village sits at 1,740 metres, and the lowest piste we measure there finishes at 1,625. If height at the door is your test, it passes easily.
Then the mountain stops. Obertauern's skiing tops out at 2,304 metres by our measure, and Crans-Montana's reaches 2,868, 564 metres higher. Half of Crans-Montana's piste sits above 2,010 metres. Half of Obertauern's sits above 1,835, only 95 metres above its village.
Our snow sure test asks for two things: more than half the piste at or above 1,800 metres, and skiing that reaches 2,500. Crans-Montana passes both. Of the piste we measure, 79 percent is at or above 1,800 metres, up to 2,868, the fourth largest share of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover. Obertauern passes the first, with 61 percent, and misses the second. So on our measure it is not snow sure, high village or not. Nobody can promise snow anywhere, but more of a Crans-Montana week sits well above the line.
Obertauern's season, on our listing, runs from late November to May, longer at both ends than Crans-Montana's December to April.
Size: Crans-Montana is bigger, and its figure is clean
Crans-Montana's skiing is one linked area of 140 kilometres, a figure three independent sources agree on to the kilometre. Around the village we measure 85 kilometres of graded piste, the tighter count and the one to plan on.
Obertauern's area total is not one we have classified yet, so we do not quote it. Measured from the run geometry, its piste comes to 73.7 kilometres, the least of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover and 11.5 fewer than around Crans-Montana. That compactness is what Obertauern is for: a neat loop you can ski from the door. It is a smaller week, though.
The skiing: Obertauern has the blue, and the bite
Obertauern's map is the friendlier one. It has 40.9 kilometres of blue and easier piste, 55 percent of what we measure, against 22 kilometres and 26 percent at Crans-Montana, where only four of the 55 resorts we cover have less. For a beginner reading the map, that is a week of blues against a week of reds.
22 km blue and easier 26%50 km red 59%13 km black 15%
41 km blue and easier 56%29 km red 39%4 km black 5%
Marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste totals: Crans-Montana 3.2 km.
The gradients complicate it. 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. Crans-Montana's reds average 19.2 percent, against a typical Swiss red at 19.9, and only five of the 55 resorts we cover have gentler reds. Obertauern's average 25.3 percent, the eighth steepest of the 55 we cover, against an Austrian 23.4. Grades are set differently in each country, so the fairer test is the share of steep ground: 29 percent of Obertauern's piste is steeper than one in four, against 22 at Crans-Montana.
So both can work for a nervous skier, in different ways. At Obertauern the blues carry them, averaging 14.5 percent, kinder than a typical Austrian blue at 16.4. At Crans-Montana the reds do the work that blues do elsewhere, and its blues, at 13.3 percent, are the gentler of the two. The step from blue to red is bigger at Obertauern.
At the hard end, Crans-Montana has 12.9 kilometres of black against 4, and 3.2 of marked itinerary where Obertauern has none in our data. We score every resort for four levels of skier, and those scores put Crans-Montana ahead for improvers and intermediates, and the two level for strong skiers.
Who each one actually suits
Crans-Montana suits families, and anyone who skis for the sun. 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 a high mountain that skis kind, with more black than Obertauern for a stronger skier. Geneva is the airport.
Obertauern suits people who want to walk out of the door and ski a loop. Ski in and ski out and the circuit are two of the three things we list it for. It suits beginners and early improvers, who get 40.9 kilometres of blue, and a group that likes a compact week, a high village and a long season. Salzburg is the airport.
The bit nobody tells you
Crans-Montana has 12.9 kilometres of black. Obertauern has 4, the third least of the 55 resorts we cover. Read that and you would send your strongest skier to Crans-Montana, and on kilometres you would be right. But Obertauern's blacks average 37.8 percent, the steepest of the 55 resorts we cover, against 27.1 at Crans-Montana and 30.3 for a typical Austrian black.
So Obertauern's hard skiing is short and sharp, and Crans-Montana's is long. All of Obertauern's piste, top to bottom, spans 679 metres of vertical. Crans-Montana's longest single piste, a 4 kilometre black, drops 843. A strong skier gets a few very steep pitches at one and long descents at the other. Ask them which they would rather have.
So, which one
you want the higher mountain, skiing that is snow sure on our measure, more piste and more black, and reds that ski kinder than they look. Also if sunshine, golf and spa or a Geneva flight suit you.
height at the door and skiing from it matter most, your group is mostly beginners who want the map in blue, or you like a compact loop and a long season with a Salzburg flight. Also if your strongest skier would rather have a few of the steepest blacks of the 55 resorts we cover than a lot of milder ones.
Obertauern has the higher village, but Crans-Montana has the higher skiing, and on our measure that is the height that counts: it is snow sure and Obertauern is not. It also gives you more piste, more black and a mountain a nervous skier can enjoy on red. Obertauern is the right answer for a beginner week from the door, and it does that week well.