Like Courchevel, but in Austria: the polish travels, the size does not

Lech is the only one of the three that keeps Courchevel's upmarket streak, and our matching puts it nearer to Courchevel than any other Austrian resort we cover. The tone is quieter. Where Courchevel 1850 is glossy, Lech is refined: a pretty village with a river through it, building kept on a tight rein, no neon. The food is what travels best: Michelin recognised hotel dining rooms and mountain lunch spots with real kitchens, where dinner is an occasion, as it is in 1850. The season is the same, December to April, and families are well looked after, especially at Oberlech, a car free corner above the village where you step out of the door onto the snow.

It is also the biggest of the three picks. We measure 175 kilometres of piste around the village, the third most of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, and 79 kilometres of blue and easier, third again. There are 26 kilometres of black, the sixth most of the 55 we cover. Off the piste it leaves Courchevel well behind: 56 kilometres of marked itinerary, the second most of the 55 resorts we cover, against Courchevel's 4.5. The lift pass is shared with St Anton and Zürs, so the Arlberg goes further than our figure for Lech, but its size is not classified in our data and we compare on what we measure.

What you trade is scale first: about three fifths of Courchevel's piste, and less than half its easy ground. The mix is steeper too. Thirty-three percent of Lech's piste is steeper than one in four, against 26, even though grade for grade it is a shade gentler: its reds average 22.3 percent against Courchevel's 24.0. The cause is the share of blue. At Lech 45 percent of the piste is blue and easier; at Courchevel 60 percent is green and blue.

Height is the other trade. The skiing reaches 2,440 metres by our measure, 257 below Courchevel's top, and 61 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, against 71. That leaves Lech just under the line we use on height for snow sure, though our guide credits it with a strong snow record, helped by slopes that face the right way.

If the Courchevel you love is the 32 kilometres of black rather than the hotels, Ischgl gets nearer. It has 27 kilometres of black, the fifth most of the 55 resorts we cover and the second most of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, and 34 percent of its piste is steeper than one in four, against Courchevel's 26. It is snow sure on our measure, more so than Courchevel: 90 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, the second biggest share of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, up to 2,868 metres, 171 above Courchevel's top. The season runs from late November into May.

The mountain is shaped differently. Red makes up more than half of it, and the blue and easier runs come to 43 kilometres, a quarter of Courchevel's green and blue. Those reds are kind on average, 20.7 percent, gentler than Courchevel's 24.0 and the Austrian average of 23.4, but averages hide the pitches, and a third of the piste is still steeper than one in four. For anyone still learning, that is a much smaller playground.

The evenings change character too. A big night in 1850 means champagne and late licences; in Ischgl it starts in ski boots as the lifts close, the open air concerts are famous, and the party sets the tone of the whole village. What it shares with Courchevel is care: our guide singles out the grooming, the spas and some ambitious hotel kitchens. It also has a trick Courchevel cannot match, a lift link over the border to Samnaun in Switzerland, which is duty free.

Courchevel's skiing stops at 2,697 metres by our measure. Sölden's reaches 3,306, the highest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover and the fifth highest of the 55 we cover, and it has two glaciers. It is snow sure on our measure: 89 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres. If what you would miss is the sense that the snow will be there whatever the winter does, Sölden carries the most of it.

It is kinder to a mixed group than Ischgl, with 77 kilometres of blue and easier, close to Lech's 79. But the gradient runs against Courchevel's. Only 26 percent of Sölden's piste is gentler than 15 percent, against 35, and its blacks average 33.3 percent, steeper than Courchevel's 31.3, though there are fewer of them, 19 kilometres. We measure 135 kilometres of piste in all, under half of Courchevel's.

The village is the biggest change. Sölden is sporty and lively, a long village on the valley floor with a road running through it, practical rather than polished. Its one Courchevel moment is a long lunch behind glass at more than 3,000 metres, at ice Q on the Gaislachkogl. For quieter nights, Hochsölden sits above the main village at about 2,000 metres.