Crans-Montana or Saint-Martin-de-Belleville: the same gentle skiing, a very different map

Size: level at the village, a different scale beyond it

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.

Saint-Martin sits inside the Three Valleys, which is genuinely linked and quoted at 600 kilometres. That is the widely quoted figure, and one we have not measured ourselves. Around Saint-Martin itself we measure 75 kilometres, 10 fewer than around Crans-Montana. The village shares its lift pass with Courchevel, Méribel and Val Thorens.

So close to the village, Crans-Montana has a little more. Beyond it, there is no contest: the area around Saint-Martin is quoted far above Crans-Montana's 140, and it all joins up on skis. For a group that judges a week by how far it can roam, that settles it. For a family that skis the same few runs each day, the two are near enough level.

Altitude: Crans-Montana goes higher, the middle is level

Crans-Montana's village is at 1,500 metres and Saint-Martin's at 1,450. At the top, Crans-Montana's skiing reaches 2,868 metres by our measure, 177 above Saint-Martin's 2,691.

Through the middle of the mountain they are level. Half of Saint-Martin's piste sits above 2,040 metres, and half of Crans-Montana's above 2,010. The highest 10 percent of the piste starts at 2,333 metres at Saint-Martin and 2,329 at Crans-Montana. Saint-Martin reaches further down, with its lowest piste at 1,140 metres against 1,463.

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 Saint-Martin it is 75 percent, up to 2,691. Nobody can promise snow. On this measure the two are close to a draw, with Crans-Montana a little ahead at the top.

The skiing: Saint-Martin has the easy kilometres, Crans-Montana the hard ones

Saint-Martin's map is mostly green and blue: 50.2 kilometres, 67 percent of the piste we measure, with 4 kilometres of reliably marked green. Crans-Montana has 22 kilometres of blue and easier, 26 percent, and only four of the 55 resorts we cover have less. For a beginner reading the map, Saint-Martin looks the safer bet by a distance.

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 one joined up mountain with most of it high, and a stronger skier who wants some black and a little marked itinerary. Geneva is the airport.

Saint-Martin suits people who want a real village and a lot of mountain. Our read is traditional and quiet, and we list it for three things: it is authentic, it is for people who care about food, and it gives you the Three Valleys. It suits beginners, who get the green and blue on its own slopes, and a group that wants to roam a big linked area and come back to somewhere quiet. Geneva or Chambéry is the airport.

The bit nobody tells you

Put the two maps side by side and Crans-Montana looks the much harder mountain: 26 percent blue and easier against 67 percent green and blue. Measured from the gradient, it is not. At both, 36 percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, and the share steeper than one in four is 22 percent at Crans-Montana and 20 at Saint-Martin, against 26 at a typical resort we cover.

The difference is in the labels. These are averages per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, so treat them as the feel of a week. Crans-Montana's reds average 19.2 percent, under a typical Swiss red at 19.9, and its blues 13.3. Saint-Martin's reds average 21.9, the second gentlest of the 17 French resorts we cover and well under a typical French red at 24.3, and its blues 16.6. Grade for grade, Crans-Montana's runs are the gentler. It simply calls more of its mountain red.

For a confident blue skier, that opens up most of Crans-Montana. For a true beginner, Saint-Martin's green and blue kilometres are still the bigger offer.