Like Andermatt, but in Italy: the expert's pick, the piste or the snow line

Courmayeur is the only Italian resort we cover that we tag expert, as we do Andermatt, and off piste is on its list of what it does best. Our matching puts it second closest to Andermatt of all 55 resorts we cover, and it keeps the expert label where the other two picks lose it.

The off piste is a different animal, though. Andermatt's is marked, 21 kilometres of itinerary. Courmayeur has 3.3 kilometres of marked itinerary, and its reputation lives higher up: the Skyway Monte Bianco climbs from Entrèves to Punta Helbronner, a viewing platform and the start of the glacier descents in the Vallée Blanche area, which are always skied with a qualified guide. If your Andermatt weeks are spent on the itineraries, plan on a guide here.

On the piste it is steep and small. Thirty two percent is steeper than one in four, against 27, and the blacks average 36.4 percent, the fourth steepest of the 55 resorts we cover, against your 30.7. The reds, at 24.3 percent, are the steepest of the 10 Italian resorts we cover. But we measure 42 kilometres of piste, the least of the 55 resorts we cover and 19 fewer than Andermatt, with 4.6 of black and 15.9 of blue and easier. Courmayeur publishes 100 kilometres, which in its own words takes in off piste; skiresort.com measures the piste at 41.5.

It is snow sure on our measure, with 72 percent of the piste at or above 1,800 metres, up to 2,715, which is 207 below your top. What you give up is the sleeper. Our read is chic and welcoming, a stone town on the Italian side of Mont Blanc made for lunch, with a cable car up from the edge of town each morning and Chamonix through the tunnel. Fly to Turin or Geneva.

Of every resort we cover, Cortina d'Ampezzo is the one our matching sets nearest to Andermatt, and you would feel why on your first red. Its blues average 15.3 percent against your 15.5, its reds 21.9 against 22.0, and 25 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 27. Run for run, the groomed skiing is close to a copy.

It also has more of them: 86 kilometres measured around the town, about 24 more than Andermatt, with 36 percent gentler than 15 percent, against 29. And it has the most marked itinerary of these three picks, 9.2 kilometres, the second most of the 10 Italian resorts we cover, the longest 4.5 kilometres with 479 metres of vertical. Cortina is quoted at 120 kilometres, a figure we have not checked, and its Dolomiti Superski pass reaches 1,200 across twelve areas, only four of them joined by lift.

The lifts reach 3,028 metres, but that is the top of a lift; the highest piste we measure starts at 2,724, 198 below Andermatt's. Sixty seven percent is at or above 1,800 metres, and the piste top alone clears our snow sure line. What you give up is the expert label. Cortina is stylish and scenic, known for the Dolomites, style and long lunches, a host of the 2026 Games, and its areas come in pieces with a bus between them. Fly to Venice or Innsbruck.

On our measure Bormio and Andermatt are level on the hill. Seventy six percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres at both, 63 percent is above 2,000 against your 64, and half of Bormio's piste sits above 2,098 metres, against 2,122. The skiing reaches 3,001 metres, 79 above yours and the third highest of the 10 Italian resorts we cover. Our matching puts it third closest to Andermatt of all the resorts we cover.

The piste is steeper, with 32 percent steeper than one in four and blacks averaging 35.7 percent, the sixth steepest of the 55 resorts we cover. The trade is size and the easy end. We measure 52.5 kilometres of piste, and only three of the 55 resorts we cover have less; its 12.1 kilometres of blue and easier is the least of the 55 we cover; there are 4 kilometres of itinerary. Bormio's own mountain is 50 kilometres; the rest of its 200 to 230 kilometre pass, across four separate valleys, needs transport. It is a historic spa town with a famous top to bottom run, traditional and quiet. Fly to Bergamo or Milan.