Like Châtel, but in Austria: keep the family week, or fix the height

Schladming is a friendly valley town known for floodlit night skiing, down to earth by our read, and two of the three things we list Châtel for are on its list too: families and value. Night skiing is the third.

The mountain is the nearest to yours of the three. Its reds average 24.4 percent, within a tenth of a point of Châtel's, and 27 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against your 26. There is more gentle ground: 39 percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, the largest share of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, against your 35, and the blues average 13.0 percent against your 15.6. There is also more of everything. We measure 134 kilometres around the town, 52 more than around Châtel, with 59 kilometres of blue and easier against your 45 of green and blue, and 12.9 of black, 7.5 more than yours.

It is linked, too, on a smaller scale. Schladming's four mountains join end to end with no bus, 123 kilometres in their own right, separate from the rest of Ski amadé. Our 134 kilometres takes in piste beyond that domain, so plan on the 123.

The trade is height and the farm village. The town is at 745 metres, 455 below Châtel, the skiing tops out at 2,001 metres, 83 lower, and 7 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres, against your 23. We tag Schladming family, not traditional: it is a valley town rather than a farm village. You fly to Salzburg.

Of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, our matching puts Bad Gastein closest to Châtel. It keeps the traditional label but not the family one, and the character is grand rather than rustic: faded belle époque grandeur and thermal spas, with spa and scenery on its list.

It is the pick that answers the height. The skiing reaches 2,644 metres by our measurement, 560 above Châtel's top, and half the piste is at or above 1,800 metres, against your 23 percent. Our snow sure test asks for more than half, so Bad Gastein misses on the share while clearing 2,500 metres at the top. The village is lower than yours, at 1,000 metres.

The mountain is steeper. Thirty seven percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, the joint eighth biggest share of the 55 resorts we cover, against your 26, and only 29 percent is gentler than 15 percent, against 35. The reds average 25.0 percent, a little steeper than yours, and there are 41 kilometres of blue and easier, against your 45 of green and blue, with 8.2 of black.

Bad Gastein's own area is 83 kilometres, one of four separate areas down the valley. We measure 107 kilometres around the village, so our figure takes in piste beyond it. You fly to Salzburg.

Kitzbühel keeps the traditional label, and our guide is full of why: a walled, painted medieval town with cobbled streets, famous for the toughest race in skiing. It is lively rather than rustic, and the nightlife is a headline. We do not tag it family, though our guide says families do well on its gentle intermediate terrain.

On the hill it fixes Châtel's thin end. There are 34 kilometres of black, the most of the 55 resorts we cover, against your 5.4. Yet the reds are kinder than yours: they average 20.3 percent, the gentlest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover. Twenty nine percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 26, and 29 percent is gentler than 15 percent, against 35. We measure 135 kilometres around the town, with 63 of blue and easier.

The trade is height, as our guide says plainly. The town is at 800 metres, 400 below Châtel, the skiing tops out at 1,968, 116 lower, and 11 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres. It does have its own railway station, and you fly to Innsbruck or Salzburg.