La Clusaz or Mayrhofen: the same size and top, a different family week
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20266 min read
La Clusaz and Mayrhofen look a lot closer on paper than their countries suggest. Our matching engine puts La Clusaz second closest to Mayrhofen of all the resorts we cover, and closest in France. Both are lively by our read, both list families among the things they do best, and both run from December to April. We measure 96.6 kilometres of piste around La Clusaz and 90.5 around Mayrhofen, and the skiing at each tops out within 46 metres of the other.
They are still not the same week. La Clusaz is a traditional village close to Geneva, with a lot of easy skiing and some very steep reds. Mayrhofen is a town low in the Zillertal with nightlife and a snow park on its list, and a red mountain above it that keeps more of its piste high. So the real question is who in your family is skiing, and how much the height of the skiing matters for your dates. The numbers first.
The numbers, side by side
| Figure | La Clusaz | Mayrhofen |
|---|---|---|
| Village altitude | 1,100 m | 630 m |
| Top of the skiing, measured | 2,458 m | 2,412 m |
| Ski area | The Aravis, shared with Le Grand-Bornand, not yet classified in our data | 142 km across Penken, Ahorn, Rastkogel and Eggalm |
| Piste we measure around the village | 96.6 km | 90.5 km |
| Green and blue | 56 km, 58% of the piste | 28.5 km of blue and easier, 31% of the piste |
| Black | 8.9 km | 14.1 km |
| Piste steeper than one in four | 39% | 32% |
| Piste gentler than 15% | 38% | 32% |
| Piste at or above 1,800 m | 18% | 55% |
| Season | December to April | December to April |
| Nearest airport | Geneva | Innsbruck or Salzburg |
Neither has any marked off piste itinerary in our data, so that row is gone. Of the rest, La Clusaz takes the easy row and both ends of the gradient. Mayrhofen takes the black row and, by a long way, the 1,800 metre row.
Altitude: Mayrhofen is lower at the door and higher on the hill
Mayrhofen's town sits at 630 metres, the second lowest of the 55 resorts we cover and 470 metres below La Clusaz. Read that alone and you would expect the lower ski resort. It is not. The tops are almost level, 2,458 metres at La Clusaz and 2,412 at Mayrhofen by our measure, but where the piste sits in between is very different.
At Mayrhofen, 55 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, and 91 percent is above 1,500. At La Clusaz those figures are 18 and 56. Half of Mayrhofen's piste lies above 1,829 metres; half of La Clusaz's lies below 1,528, which puts the middle of Mayrhofen's skiing 301 metres higher.
Neither passes our snow sure test, which asks for more than half the piste at or above 1,800 metres and skiing that reaches 2,500. Mayrhofen passes the first half and misses the second; La Clusaz misses both. Nobody can promise snow anywhere. If your dates sit early or late in the season, though, Mayrhofen has far more of its skiing above that 1,800 metre line.
Size: level around the village, counted differently beyond it
Around the villages there is almost nothing in it: 96.6 kilometres of piste at La Clusaz and 90.5 at Mayrhofen, 6 apart, both a little under the 115.8 kilometre median of the 55 resorts we cover.
Mayrhofen's own domain, across Penken, Ahorn, Rastkogel and Eggalm, is 142 kilometres, a figure we trust. It sits on the Zillertal pass, which spans four separate areas, and the bigger pass figure you will see quoted counts some slopes twice, so we leave it out. La Clusaz shares the Aravis with Le Grand-Bornand. We have not classified the Aravis total yet, so we go by the piste we measure.
For a week skied from the door, call size a draw.
The skiing: La Clusaz has more at both ends, Mayrhofen more in the middle
Grades do not line up between France and Austria, so compare the measured shares. Thirty eight percent of La Clusaz's piste is gentler than 15 percent, against 32 at Mayrhofen. Thirty nine percent is steeper than one in four, joint sixth of the 55 resorts we cover, against 32. La Clusaz has the bigger share at both ends, and less in between.
The easy end is the clearest gap. La Clusaz has 56 kilometres of green and blue, 8.1 of it green, against 28.5 kilometres of blue and easier at Mayrhofen, the least of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover. What blue Mayrhofen has is kind: it averages 12.7 percent, the gentlest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, against 14.6 at La Clusaz, where only one of the 17 French resorts we cover has gentler blues. These are average gradients per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch.
The middle belongs to Mayrhofen. Fifty three percent of what we measure there is red, 47.9 kilometres against 31.7 at La Clusaz, and there is more black, 14.1 kilometres against 8.9. The longest piste we measure at Mayrhofen is a 4.3 kilometre red with 1,161 metres of vertical; La Clusaz's is a 2.5 kilometre blue with 234.
Who each one actually suits
La Clusaz suits families with someone new to skiing in the group: the reliably mapped green, the big share of gentle piste and the 56 kilometres of green and blue are all on its side. It suits people who like a traditional, local village with some life in it, and anyone who wants a weekend feel close to Geneva.
Mayrhofen suits a lively group, or a family moving up from blue to red: nightlife, families and the snow park are what it does best. It suits people who want long runs with real vertical, and anyone booking near the start or end of the season who wants more of the skiing above 1,800 metres.
The bit nobody tells you
Mayrhofen is the one with a steep signature run in our description of it, and it is no soft mountain: 32 percent of its piste is steeper than one in four, against 26 at the median resort we cover. On the measured gradients, though, La Clusaz is the steeper of the two at every grade above blue.
Its reds average 29.0 percent, the steepest of the 55 resorts we cover and close to a typical French black at 29.6. Mayrhofen's average 23.3. La Clusaz's blacks average 37.3, the second steepest of the 55 resorts we cover, and Mayrhofen's 27.5, under the Austrian average for a black of 30.3. There is less black at La Clusaz, but what it has is the bigger test.
That cuts both ways. A confident teenager who wants a fright once a day will find the steeper reds and blacks at the traditional village near Geneva, not the town with the signature run. A parent stepping up from blue will find La Clusaz's reds a big step, and Mayrhofen's, close to the Austrian average for a red of 23.4, the kind they can grow into.
So, which one
your family has beginners in it who will spend the week on green and blue, you want a traditional village with a weekend feel close to Geneva, or the strongest skier wants the steepest reds of the 55 resorts we cover.
your group skis blue and wants to move on to red, the evenings and the snow park matter, you want long runs with real vertical, or your dates sit at the edges of the season.
On the same size of mountain with much the same top, it keeps far more of its skiing high, 55 percent of the piste above 1,800 metres against 18, and its 47.9 kilometres of red are ones an improving skier can grow into. La Clusaz is the right answer when the week belongs to a beginner, or the short trip from Geneva is the point.