Like Adelboden, but in France: the chalet village is easy, the height is not

Our matching puts Les Gets closer to Adelboden than any other resort we cover, and our own descriptions almost swap places. Adelboden is traditional and warm; Les Gets is warm and traditional, a pretty village at the gateway to the Portes du Soleil. We tag both traditional and family, and families are on both lists, here with tree skiing and a charming village.

The skiing has a similar shape. Twenty three percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against your 25, and 34 percent is gentler than 15 percent, against 38. The blues are close underfoot, averaging 15.0 percent against 14.5. Green is mapped reliably here: 55 kilometres of green and blue, 7.7 of it green, against your 52 of blue and easier.

The size works differently. We measure 99 kilometres around the village, and the Les Gets and Morzine sector is 117. Beyond it, the Portes du Soleil is twelve villages across two countries on one genuinely linked circuit, measured at 580 kilometres against an official 600. An independent measurement puts it nearer 426, and even that is far more than the 85 you can ski from Adelboden's door.

The trade is height, and it is a big one. The village is at 1,172 metres, 178 below yours. The skiing tops out at 1,965 metres by our measurement, 391 lower and the lowest of the 17 French resorts we cover, and 1 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres; only one of the 55 resorts we cover has a smaller share. There is less black, 9.6 kilometres against 12.9, and it is steep, averaging 33.2 percent, the third steepest blacks of the 17 French resorts we cover.

Châtel shares two of the three things on Adelboden's list, tradition and families, with value as its third. Our read is rustic and friendly, farm village character on the Swiss border, and we tag it traditional and family as well. Our matching puts it second closest to Adelboden of all the resorts we cover.

It gives back some of the height Les Gets gives away. The village is at 1,200 metres, 150 below Adelboden's, the skiing reaches 2,084 metres by our measurement, 272 lower, and 23 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres. Twenty six percent is steeper than one in four, a point from your 25. Its own sector, the Espace Liberté, shared with Torgon and Morgins, is 120 kilometres, and it sits on the same Portes du Soleil circuit.

The trade is the amount close to home. We measure 82 kilometres of piste around Châtel, about 33 fewer than around Adelboden, with 45 kilometres of green and blue. The black is thin, 5.4 kilometres, the least of the 17 French resorts we cover, and the reds are steeper, averaging 24.3 percent against 21.3. The longest run we measure is a blue, the Tovassière, 3 kilometres with 220 metres of drop, a long glide for a young family.

If what you would change about Adelboden is the snow, Serre Chevalier is the French answer. It starts at the same height, 1,350 metres on our figure for its string of villages, and 38 percent of its piste is gentler than 15 percent, the same share as yours. Then it climbs: the skiing reaches 2,751 metres by our measurement, 395 above Adelboden's, and 72 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres, so on our measure it is snow sure.

It is bigger as well. We measure 153 kilometres around it, about 38 more than around Adelboden, with 91 kilometres of green and blue, 40.8 of it reliably green, and 16.7 of black against 12.9.

The trade is the village. Our read is relaxed and sunny, sun, trees and a string of old villages, and we tag it quiet, but neither traditional nor family. The middle of the mountain is steeper, too: its reds average 24.9 percent, the tenth steepest of the 55 resorts we cover. You fly to Turin or Grenoble rather than Zurich or Geneva.