How steep is a red run? We measured 55 resorts in four countries
A red in France is not a red in Italy. We measured piste gradients at 55 resorts in four countries. Here is what blue, red and black really mean, and where.
Checked and updated 12 October 2026
A red run is not a measurement. It is a resort's judgement, and the judgement changes at the border.
Grading is set resort by resort, to conventions that differ between countries. So we measured the runs themselves: the gradient of the graded pistes at all 55 resorts we cover, in France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy. The headline is simple. The average French red has a gradient of 24.3 percent. The average Swiss red is 19.9. They share a colour, and they are not the same run.
What the colours measure, country by country
| Average gradient | Blue | Red | Black |
|---|---|---|---|
| France | 16.2% | 24.3% | 29.6% |
| Switzerland | 15.0% | 19.9% | 26.7% |
| Austria | 16.4% | 23.4% | 30.3% |
| Italy | 14.4% | 20.4% | 30.2% |
Four things stand out.
On blues and reds, France and Austria grade similarly, and so do Switzerland and Italy. French and Austrian reds are within a point of each other. So are Swiss and Italian reds.
An average Italian or Swiss red sits close to halfway between a French blue and a French red. If you are happy on French blues and wary of French reds, most Swiss and Italian reds are the run in between that France does not have a colour for.
A Swiss black is closer to a French red than to a French black. At 26.7 percent it is 2.4 points steeper than the French red and 2.9 gentler than the French black.
Blues travel; reds do not. The four countries' blues span just 2 points, from 14.4 to 16.4 percent. Their reds span 4.4. If you ski blues, the colour means much the same wherever you are. If you ski reds, it does not.
In plain terms, a blue averages roughly one in six or seven wherever you are. A French or Austrian red averages just under one in four; a Swiss or Italian red, about one in five. One in four is also the line we use for steep: the share of a resort's piste steeper than that.
When a red is gentler than a blue
Country averages hide the bigger spread, which is between resorts.
Klosters' reds average 17.1 percent, the gentlest of the 55, and gentler than the average blue at twelve other resorts, among them Tignes at 17.6, Courchevel at 17.5 and St Anton at 17.5. Zermatt's reds, at 17.2, and Val Gardena's, at 17.3, are barely steeper.
It works the other way too. Kronplatz's blues average 20.2 percent, the steepest blues we measure, and steeper than the reds at ten resorts, including Zermatt, Val Gardena and Cervinia. A blue skier who is fine in Val Gardena could have a very different morning at Kronplatz.
Blacks hold their own surprises. At three resorts the average black is gentler than the average French red: Klosters at 21.1 percent, Megève at 23.3 and Tignes at 23.5. At Megève and Tignes, black and red average within half a point of each other. That does not make those blacks easy. A black is graded on its steepest pitch, and an average can hide a short, sharp wall.
Austria measures steep, Switzerland gentle, and Italy depends
Across all 55, the median resort has 26 percent of its piste steeper than one in four. Twelve of our thirteen Austrian resorts measure above that. The exception is the SkiWelt, at 24.
Switzerland is the opposite. Thirteen of its fifteen resorts sit at or below the median, and not one Swiss resort's reds average as steep as the French red. Engelberg comes closest, at 24.0.
France spreads widest, from 19 percent at Samoëns to 59 at Argentière, so the country tells you least there.
Italy is gentle on average, with exceptions that matter. Livigno is the one most people meet. Forty percent of its piste is steeper than one in four, the fifth highest of the 55, and its reds average 23.1 percent, level with Tignes and Megève. Kronplatz is steeper still by share, at 43 percent, and Courmayeur's reds average 24.3, exactly the French figure. At the gentle end, Val Gardena, Cervinia, Alta Badia and Madonna di Campiglio have between 13 and 18 percent of their piste steeper than one in four.
The two ends of the table
The least steep resort we measure is Zermatt. Only 12 percent of its piste is steeper than one in four. Its reputation for serious skiing rests on the off piste and the itineraries, not on the marked runs. It is a striking result, and we are giving the elevation data behind it a second look before we lean on it harder.
The steepest is Argentière, at 59 percent, sixteen points clear of St Anton and Kronplatz at 43. It is a small, serious area, with 44 kilometres of piste by our measurement, and strong skiers go there for good reason. But a figure that far from the rest deserves a second look too, and it is getting one.
How we measured it
We took the geometry of every graded piste from OpenStreetMap and laid it over terrain elevation data. Each run is split into segments, and for each segment we work out the average gradient, weighted by length so that a long stretch counts for more than a short one. For the average gradient by colour, segments shorter than 150 metres are left out; for the share of piste steeper than one in four, segments shorter than 50 metres are. Short segments are where small errors in the elevation data matter most. The colour is the grade the run carries on the map.
That gives two numbers per resort: the average gradient of its blues, reds and blacks, and the share of all its graded piste steeper than one in four.
Two caveats, and they matter. First, this is average gradient. A run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, so a red with a gentle average can still have a short section that earns the colour. Second, the elevation data is good but not survey grade. It is accurate enough to compare resorts and countries, not to settle an argument about one particular run.
All 55 resorts, measured
Steepest first, by the share of piste steeper than one in four. Gradients are the average for each colour.
| Argentière | France | 59% | 18.4% | 28.9% | 31.8% |
| St Anton | Austria | 43% | 17.5% | 25.8% | 34.1% |
| Kronplatz | Italy | 43% | 20.2% | 24.0% | 30.2% |
| Saalbach-Hinterglemm | Austria | 42% | 17.8% | 27.8% | 36.9% |
| Livigno | Italy | 40% | 17.8% | 23.1% | 33.2% |
| La Clusaz | France | 39% | 14.6% | 29.0% | 37.3% |
| Chamonix | France | 39% | 16.5% | 27.0% | 28.5% |
| Le Grand-Bornand | France | 37% | 17.4% | 28.1% | 34.3% |
| Bad Gastein | Austria | 37% | 14.9% | 25.0% | 32.6% |
| Ischgl | Austria | 34% | 15.8% | 20.7% | 29.9% |
| Zürs | Austria | 33% | 17.5% | 24.2% | 29.6% |
| Lech | Austria | 33% | 17.0% | 22.3% | 30.8% |
| Courmayeur | Italy | 32% | 14.0% | 24.3% | 36.4% |
| Mayrhofen | Austria | 32% | 12.7% | 23.3% | 27.5% |
| Hintertux | Austria | 32% | 19.3% | 22.1% | 35.9% |
| Bormio | Italy | 32% | 14.6% | 21.7% | 35.7% |
| Méribel | France | 31% | 17.0% | 25.4% | 32.8% |
| Engelberg | Switzerland | 31% | 13.2% | 24.0% | 31.0% |
| Sölden | Austria | 30% | 17.3% | 23.7% | 33.3% |
| Sestriere | Italy | 30% | 12.0% | 21.1% | 30.1% |
| Obertauern | Austria | 29% | 14.5% | 25.3% | 37.8% |
| Val d'Isère | France | 29% | 16.9% | 23.9% | 29.9% |
| Kitzbühel | Austria | 29% | 16.7% | 20.3% | 25.9% |
| Serre Chevalier | France | 27% | 16.8% | 24.9% | 27.8% |
| Schladming | Austria | 27% | 13.0% | 24.4% | 25.0% |
| La Plagne | France | 27% | 15.5% | 23.6% | 25.5% |
| Andermatt | Switzerland | 27% | 15.5% | 22.0% | 30.7% |
| Châtel | France | 26% | 15.6% | 24.3% | 29.2% |
| Les Arcs | France | 26% | 12.6% | 24.3% | 30.3% |
| Courchevel | France | 26% | 17.5% | 24.0% | 31.3% |
| Val Thorens | France | 25% | 16.5% | 23.5% | 32.2% |
| Tignes | France | 25% | 17.6% | 23.1% | 23.5% |
| Gstaad | Switzerland | 25% | 17.8% | 22.5% | 28.0% |
| Cortina d'Ampezzo | Italy | 25% | 15.3% | 21.9% | 32.5% |
| Adelboden | Switzerland | 25% | 14.5% | 21.3% | 26.1% |
| Villars | Switzerland | 24% | 15.8% | 23.6% | 30.2% |
| SkiWelt | Austria | 24% | 15.6% | 22.0% | 28.5% |
| Arosa | Switzerland | 24% | 15.4% | 21.8% | 32.4% |
| St Moritz | Switzerland | 24% | 16.4% | 21.0% | 25.5% |
| Les Gets | France | 23% | 15.0% | 23.2% | 33.2% |
| Davos | Switzerland | 23% | 16.2% | 20.7% | 25.8% |
| Crans-Montana | Switzerland | 22% | 13.3% | 19.2% | 27.1% |
| Megève | France | 20% | 16.3% | 23.1% | 23.3% |
| Saint-Martin-de-Belleville | France | 20% | 16.6% | 21.9% | 30.9% |
| Wengen | Switzerland | 20% | 13.9% | 20.1% | 24.3% |
| Verbier | Switzerland | 19% | 11.5% | 20.2% | 29.0% |
| Samoëns | France | 19% | 16.6% | 19.9% | 27.6% |
| Madonna di Campiglio | Italy | 18% | 12.9% | 19.7% | 30.2% |
| Alta Badia | Italy | 15% | 14.4% | 21.7% | 28.5% |
| Grindelwald | Switzerland | 15% | 13.5% | 18.3% | 25.3% |
| Cervinia | Italy | 15% | 13.2% | 18.1% | 28.0% |
| Klosters | Switzerland | 15% | 15.9% | 17.1% | 21.1% |
| Laax | Switzerland | 14% | 14.4% | 19.5% | 25.5% |
| Val Gardena | Italy | 13% | 12.8% | 17.3% | 26.1% |
| Zermatt | Switzerland | 12% | 13.8% | 17.2% | 28.0% |
What it means when you choose
If reds make you nervous, do not trust the colour on the piste map. Look at the red average and the steep share. The gentlest reds we measure are at Klosters, Zermatt, Val Gardena, Cervinia and Grindelwald.
If you are crossing a border, expect French and Austrian reds to feel a step harder than Swiss and Italian ones, and spend your first morning on blues when you go that way. Then check the resort, not the country: Livigno, Kronplatz and Courmayeur do not ski like the rest of Italy.
If you are a strong skier, read the steep share. The five highest are Argentière, St Anton, Kronplatz, Saalbach-Hinterglemm and Livigno.
If you ski blues, relax a little. Blue is the colour that changes least between countries, though Kronplatz shows that one resort can still surprise you.
The verdict: a colour is the resort's opinion and the gradient is the fact, so choose on the gradient. And if you want one name for a nervous intermediate, it is Val Gardena: the second gentlest piste we measure, reds averaging 17.3 percent, and around 500 kilometres of linked skiing reachable on the Sellaronda.
Planning a week in Val Gardena?
The skiing, the villages and how to get there.