Like Chamonix, but in Austria: more of the skiing, none of Mont Blanc

Of all 55 resorts we cover, our matching puts St Anton closest to Chamonix, and it beats Chamonix at its own game. It has 70 kilometres of marked off piste itinerary, the most of any resort we cover and 26 more than Chamonix. Forty-three percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, the joint second biggest share of the 55 resorts we cover and the biggest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, against Chamonix's 39. The reds are a touch kinder, averaging 25.8 percent against 27.0, but the blacks are where it bites: 34.1 percent on average, the eighth steepest of the 55 we cover, against Chamonix's 28.5.

There is more piste, too: 155 kilometres measured around the village against 102.5, with lifts on to Lech and Zürs across the Arlberg. It is snow sure on our measure, with 71 percent of the piste we measure above 1,800 metres, up to 2,799, and the village sits 269 metres higher than Chamonix's. We class both as expert.

The trade is the town and the top. St Anton is a compact, walkable ski village, energetic and social by our read, and the party is part of the furniture: the afternoon starts in the bars above the village and ends with a ski home past them. Chamonix regulars who like the town's late bars will settle in. Those who go for the mountains and an early night may not. The skiing stops 423 metres below Chamonix's top, the season ends in April, and there is little gentle ground: 24 percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, among the five smallest shares of the 55 we cover.

If part of Chamonix's appeal is skiing into May, Ischgl is the Austrian pick that keeps it, and it starts earlier too, from late November. It is the snowiest of the three on our measure: 90 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, the second biggest share of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, and the skiing reaches 2,868 metres. There is plenty to get your teeth into. It has 27 kilometres of black, more than Chamonix's 23 and the fifth most of the 55 we cover, and a third of the piste is steeper than one in four. And for a Chamonix regular who likes a late night, Ischgl's nights are what it is famous for, with a lift link over the border to Samnaun in Switzerland by day.

What does not carry over is the edge. We do not class Ischgl as expert, and the marked off piste runs to 10.6 kilometres, about a quarter of Chamonix's. Its reds average 20.7 percent, well under Chamonix's 27.0, and only one of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover has gentler reds on average. It is a big, snowy, lively mountain for strong skiers, not a mountaineering one.

If what you love is waking up somewhere with a life beyond the lifts, Bad Gastein is the Austrian answer. It is a grand old spa town, all faded belle époque grandeur and thermal spas, characterful and traditional by our read, and it sits at 1,000 metres, 35 below Chamonix. Its skiing is laid out the Chamonix way, as separate areas down a valley: Bad Gastein's own is 83 kilometres, one of four, on the Ski amadé pass, which covers 760 kilometres across five regions that are not all joined.

The piste has real bite. Thirty-seven percent is steeper than one in four, the third biggest share of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, and the reds average 25.0 percent, closer to Chamonix's than most of Austria gets.

The trade is everything off the piste and high up. There are 1.5 kilometres of marked itinerary against 44, and 8 kilometres of black. Half the piste is above 1,800 metres and the skiing tops out at 2,644, so it is not snow sure on our measure. Choose it for the town and the steep piste, not the big days off the map.