Like Alta Badia, but in Austria: a harder match than you would think

Our matching puts Obertauern nearest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, and it is the only one of the three picks where you sleep higher than in Alta Badia. The village is at 1,740 metres, 172 above yours and the highest of the Austrian resorts we cover. It is ski in ski out, the runs make a loop, which gives a little of the Sellaronda's sense of going round, and the season runs from late November into May.

Its blues are your blues: they average 14.5 percent on our measure, against Alta Badia's 14.4. Thirty-six percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, the second biggest share of the Austrian resorts we cover, against your 40.

The catch is the rest of the mountain. Twenty-nine percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, nearly twice your 15. The reds average 25.3 percent, the third steepest of the Austrian resorts we cover, against Alta Badia's 21.7, and the few blacks, 4 kilometres, are the steepest on average of the 55 resorts we cover. We measure 74 kilometres of piste, about three fifths of Alta Badia's, and the skiing stops at 2,304 metres by our measure, 205 below your top. So for all the height of the village it does not pass our snow sure test. Our read is high and snowy, which is a different promise from warm and welcoming.

If the gentle runs are the whole point, Schladming has more of them by share than anywhere else in Austria we cover. Thirty-nine percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, the biggest share of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover and almost your 40. The blues average 13.0 percent, gentler than Alta Badia's, and the blacks 25.0 percent, the kindest of the Austrian resorts we cover. Our read is a down to earth, friendly valley town, good for families and for value, with floodlit night skiing as a bonus.

The size is close and properly joined up. Four mountains are linked end to end with no bus, 123 kilometres, and we measure 134 kilometres around the town, a little more than Alta Badia's 124.5. The Ski amadé pass is far bigger on paper, but its five regions are not all joined, and Schladming's four mountains are a separate domain.

Two trades. The reds average 24.4 percent against your 21.7, and 27 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four. And the height is the big one: the town is at 745 metres, 823 below Alta Badia's village, the skiing tops out at 2,001 metres by our measure, 508 below your top, and only 7 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres. It is not snow sure on our measure, and for a family week booked months ahead that matters.

Sölden is the opposite trade. It has almost exactly your amount of easy skiing, 76.8 kilometres of blue and easier against Alta Badia's 76.4, in a slightly bigger area: we measure 135 kilometres around the village. And it has snow Alta Badia cannot match. It is snow sure on our measure by a distance: 89 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to 3,306 metres, the highest top of any Austrian resort we cover and 797 above yours. Two glaciers, the Rettenbach and the Tiefenbach, keep the season running from late November into May. For a long lunch with a view, the ice Q restaurant sits high on the Gaislachkogl.

What changes is the feel of it. Only 26 percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, against your 40, and 30 percent is steeper than one in four, twice your share. The blues average 17.3 percent, against 14.4, so a nervous skier who loves Alta Badia's cruising will feel the difference on the first morning. The village is 200 metres lower, strung along the valley with a busy road through it, and our read is sporty and lively, with nightlife high on the list. Families do better staying up in Hochsölden, above the road and nearer the snow. It is a great week, but a louder one.