Lech or Méribel: the same village height, two different ideas of a week

Size: Méribel puts more skiing at the door

Lech is part of the Arlberg, joined by lift to Zürs and St. Anton on one pass. We have not yet classified the Arlberg's total, so the fair ruler is the one we hold for both: the piste we measure around each village, from the run geometry. That gives Lech 175 kilometres, well above the 116 at a typical resort we cover, and Méribel 261, the second most of the 55 we cover.

The skiing: the same shape, with Méribel's pistes the steeper

The engine's case for these two is the shape of the mountain, and the measurements back it. At Lech, 33 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four; at Méribel, 31 percent, and both are above the 26 at a typical resort we cover. At the easy end, 31 and 32 percent is gentler than 15 percent. Austria and France do not grade a run the same way, so those measured shares are the fair comparison, not the colours on the piste map.

Off piste: this is Lech's ground

Lech's answer to all that is the itinerary. It has 56 kilometres of marked off piste itinerary, the second most of the 55 resorts we cover. Méribel has 5. The longest at Lech, the Wöster Bockbachtal, runs 8.5 kilometres with 827 metres of vertical, which is a proper descent, marked but not pisted.

That changes who gets the most from each. A strong skier in Méribel spends the week on its stiff reds and blacks, and there are plenty, with long ones like the Combe du Vallon, a 3.1 kilometre red with 947 metres of vertical. A strong skier in Lech can spend much of it off the groomed runs, ideally with a guide. If nobody in your group wants that, you are not using what makes Lech's skiing different.

Who each one actually suits

Lech suits couples, families and three generation groups who care about where they eat as much as where they ski. The village is low roofed and kept that way, with a river through the middle and no big blocks. Oberlech, above it, is car free and reached by cable car, and families love stepping straight out onto the snow. Evenings are grown up: a drink on a terrace as the lifts slow, a hotel bar with a fire, a long dinner. When the group wants noise, St. Anton is on the same pass. Non skiers do well too, with spas, quiet walking trails and a village you can wander.

Méribel suits mixed groups, and families above all. Beginners get the gentle Altiport greens among the trees, the less confident have more easy piste than almost anywhere we measure, and the stronger skiers can be in Courchevel or Val Thorens before lunch. It is the home of the catered chalet, which takes the evening logistics off your hands. Après starts at the bottom of the runs and is lively without getting messy. Pick the base with care: Méribel Centre for the bars and lifts both ways, Méribel Village for quiet, and Mottaret, higher up, for the most ski in, ski out.

The bit nobody tells you

Lech is famous for snow. Our guide gives it one of the best snow records in the Alps, and that comes from how the valley catches and holds what falls. What we measure is height, and on height Méribel has the margin. Seventy eight percent of Méribel's piste is at or above 1,800 metres, up to 2,891 metres, so it counts as snow sure on our measure. At Lech it is 61 percent, and the skiing tops out at 2,440 metres, 60 metres short of the 2,500 metre line we set. Half of Méribel's piste is above 2,076 metres; half of Lech's is above 1,880.

None of that says Lech is short of snow, and nobody can promise snow anywhere. It says the two resorts get there differently. If you are booking the very start or end of the season and want the odds on your side from altitude alone, Méribel, and especially Mottaret, holds the better hand. One practical point for Lech in deep winter: the road in climbs high, and in heavy snow it can close for short spells, so leave a little slack on the day you fly home.