Lech or St. Anton: one Arlberg pass, so pick the village you want to wake up in

Steepness: St. Anton is the steep one, by a distance

This is the row that matters most. At St. Anton, 43 percent of the piste we measure is steeper than one in four, the joint second biggest share of the 55 resorts we cover and the biggest of the 13 Austrian ones. At Lech it is 33 percent, still above the 26 at a typical resort we cover. At the gentle end, 24 percent of St. Anton's piste is gentler than 15 percent, and only four of our 55 resorts have less. Lech has 31.

Both grade the Austrian way, so the colours compare fairly here, and they look very similar: 42 percent easy at St. Anton, 45 at Lech, and 15 percent black at both. The difference is inside the colours. The measured gradients are averages per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, so treat them as how the week feels. St. Anton's reds average 25.8 percent, the sixth steepest of the 55 we cover, against 22.3 at Lech and an Austrian average of 23.4. Its blacks average 34.1 against Lech's 30.8. Even its blues are a touch steeper, 17.5 against 17.0.

So a red at St. Anton is a stiffer thing than a red at Lech. For a strong group that is the appeal. For an improver who has just got comfortable on Austrian reds, it is the difference between a good week and a long one.

Altitude: Lech is higher at the door, St. Anton higher on the hill

Lech's village sits at 1,450 metres, 146 above St. Anton's 1,304. Above the villages it reverses. St. Anton's skiing reaches 2,799 metres on our measurement, against 2,440 at Lech, and more of its piste sits up high: 71 percent at or above 1,800 metres against 61, and 47 percent above 2,000 metres against 30.

That makes St. Anton snow sure on our measure: 71 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to 2,799 metres. Lech passes the first half of that test and tops out 60 metres short of the 2,500 metre line we set, so we do not call it either way on altitude alone. Lech's name for snow rests on how its valley catches and holds what falls, which we do not measure. Nobody can promise snow at either. On height, St. Anton has the edge.

Off piste: the two biggest we cover, on one pass

St. Anton has 70 kilometres of marked off piste itinerary, the most of the 55 resorts we cover. Lech has 56, the second most. These are our measurements around each village, and in a shared area they overlap, so do not add them up. What it does mean is that whichever village you choose, the two biggest networks of marked off piste we measure anywhere are on your lift pass. The longest at Lech, the Wöster Bockbachtal, runs 8.5 kilometres with 827 metres of vertical. Above St. Anton, the off piste from the very top of the Valluga is for guided groups only.

Who each one actually suits

St. Anton suits confident skiers and groups who want long, demanding days and a proper night out at the end of them. The famous après bars, the Mooserwirt and the Krazy Kanguruh, sit on the piste above the village, and the last run of the day goes past them. It is skiing's heritage too: Hannes Schneider developed the Arlberg technique here. Families can make it work by choosing the base well. Nasserein has its own gondola and calmer evenings, St. Jakob is quieter still on the ski bus, and the gentler learning areas are at Nasserein and Rendl. A small practical gift: the railway station is in the village.

Lech suits couples, families and groups who would rather have a long dinner than a long night. It is refined and quiet, its building kept low and controlled, and the food is taken seriously from hut to hotel. Oberlech, above the village, is car free, reached by cable car and very good for children. Zürs is higher and more exclusive, and Zug a small hamlet up the valley. When someone wants a big night, St. Anton is on the same pass.

The bit nobody tells you

Lech is thought of as the gentle Arlberg and St. Anton the serious one. On steepness that holds. On quantity it does not. Around Lech we measure more of everything except the itinerary: 175 kilometres of piste to St. Anton's 155, 79 kilometres of blue and easier to 66, and 26 of black to 24, the sixth and joint seventh most of the 55 resorts we cover.

So Lech is not the small, soft option, and St. Anton is not the one with the most black. St. Anton's difference is the angle, not the amount. That matters for a mixed group. Staying in Lech puts more easy piste near the less confident, more black near the strong, and St. Anton's steep reds a lift link away for the days they want them.