Like Cortina d'Ampezzo, but in Austria: the polish, the old town or the mountain?

If what you love about Cortina is the polish, the good tables and the sense that nobody is in a hurry, Lech is the Austrian answer. Our read is refined and snowy, upmarket and good for families, and understated luxury is the first thing on its list. The village is small and low, kept that way by tight rules on building, and the food is taken as seriously as Cortina's: dinner is the evening's event, and the lunches on the mountain run long.

Then the skiing gives you more of everything. We measure 175 kilometres of piste around Lech, twice Cortina's 86 and the tenth most of the 55 resorts we cover, and it shares a pass with St Anton and Zürs. There are 79 kilometres of blue and easier, twice Cortina's, 26 kilometres of black against 9.1, and 56 kilometres of marked off piste itinerary, the second most of the 55 and six times Cortina's. The reds feel familiar, too, averaging 22.3 percent against 21.9.

Two things to know. The first is height at the top. The village is at 1,450 metres, 226 above Cortina's, and 61 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against 67. But the skiing tops out at 2,440 metres, measured, 588 below Cortina's top and 60 short of the 2,500 metres our snow sure test asks for, so Lech sits right on the edge of it. The second is the place itself. Lech is a village, not a town: no Corso, no evening stroll, and the après is a terrace or a hotel bar by the fire. The mountain is steeper, with 33 percent steeper than one in four, against 25.

Our matching puts Bad Gastein nearer to Cortina than any other Austrian resort we cover, though the engine names nothing in particular that carries over. We would name the town. Bad Gastein is a real town with a past: grand and characterful by our read, and known for its belle époque look, its thermal spas and its scenery. Like Cortina, it is a place you can enjoy on a day you do not ski.

The shape of the week carries over too, separate areas and all. Bad Gastein's own area is 83 kilometres, and the valley has four separate areas. Its pass, Ski amadé, covers five regions that are not all joined; 760 kilometres is the official figure and we measure 724. Like the Dolomiti Superski, it is a big pass, not a linked area. Around the town we measure 107 kilometres, with 41 of blue and easier against Cortina's 38, and the blacks average 32.6 percent against 32.5, about as close as two mountains get.

The trade is height and gentleness. The village is at 1,000 metres, 224 below Cortina's, and the skiing tops out at 2,644, measured, 384 lower. Half the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against 67 percent, which leaves it just short of our snow sure test. And it is steep: 37 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, the joint eighth biggest share of the 55 resorts we cover, and the reds average 25 percent against 21.9. Our read is traditional rather than upmarket, so the grandeur is the faded kind.

On paper Ischgl is the nearest to Cortina's mountain. The village is at 1,377 metres, 153 above Cortina's, and the skiing tops out at 2,868, measured, 160 below Cortina's top lift but above the highest piste we measure there, 2,724. It has 10.6 kilometres of marked off piste itinerary against Cortina's 9.2. Its reds average 20.7 percent, the only Austrian pick here whose reds measure kinder than Cortina's 21.9. And it is snow sure on our measure with room to spare: 90 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, up to 2,868, the second biggest share of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover. The season runs from late November to May.

There is more of it, too: 152 kilometres measured around the village, 43 of them blue and easier, and 27 kilometres of black, the fifth most of the 55 resorts we cover, against Cortina's 9.1.

The catch is everything after four o'clock. Ischgl is high energy, known for legendary nights out, and the après starts in ski boots as the lifts close. That is about as far from an aperitivo on the Corso as Austria gets. If your Cortina group is ready for a louder week, it is a brilliant mountain. If the style is the point, it is the wrong town.