Like Arosa, but in Austria: the family week, a little lower down

Our matching puts Lech closest to Arosa of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, and it keeps the family tag. We tag it upmarket as well, and our read is refined and snowy, best for understated luxury and families. Our guide adds a pretty village with a river running through it, and Oberlech above, car free and ski in ski out, reached by cable car and a favourite with families. You can still fly to Zurich.

The size is the nearest match on this page. We measure 174.8 kilometres of piste around Lech, against 183 around Arosa. There are 79.1 kilometres of blue and easier, the third most of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, against your 97.

The difference is the gradient. Thirty three percent of Lech's piste is steeper than one in four, against 24, and its blues average 17.0 percent against 15.4. There is more for whoever in the family wants the steep: 26 kilometres of black against 14.5, and 56.1 kilometres of marked off piste itinerary, the second most of the 55 resorts we cover, against 8.5.

And it is lower. The skiing stops at 2,440 metres by our measure, 408 below Arosa's top. Sixty one percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against 65, and the top of the skiing sits close to the line we draw for snow sure, so we have not called it either way.

If the snow sure part of Arosa is what you would miss most, Ischgl has more of it. Ninety percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, the second biggest share of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, against Arosa's 65, and the skiing reaches 2,868 metres, 20 above Arosa's top. It is snow sure on our measure, and the season runs from late November to May. Our guide adds a lift link over the border to Samnaun, in Switzerland.

The size holds up reasonably well. We measure 152.3 kilometres around Ischgl, against 183, and there are 10.6 kilometres of marked itinerary, against 8.5.

What you give up is the family week, and it is a lot to give up. We tag Ischgl lively, not family; our read is high energy and snowy, and nightlife heads its list. Our own guide is candid that the evenings start early and spill onto the streets. There are 42.6 kilometres of blue and easier against your 97, and 82.8 of its 152.3 kilometres are red. Those reds are kind on average, 20.7 percent, but 34 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 24.

Obertauern's village is at 1,740 metres, the highest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, and 100 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,500 metres. The mix is close to Arosa's: 36 percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, against 35, and the blues average 14.5 percent, a touch kinder than Arosa's 15.4. Our read is high and snowy, with ski in ski out and a neat skiable loop, and the season runs from late November to May.

What you give up is the size and the top. We measure 73.7 kilometres of piste, the least of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, against Arosa's 183. The skiing stops at 2,304 metres, 544 below Arosa's top, and that keeps it off our snow sure list even with 61 percent of the piste at or above 1,800 metres. Our own description calls it snow sure; on the measure we use, it misses on the top. There is no marked itinerary, 4 kilometres of black, and we do not tag it family.