Like Courmayeur, but in Switzerland: the off piste, without the Via Roma

Engelberg is the nearest resort to Courmayeur anywhere in our data, and on the mountain the likeness is close. Our read is down to earth and snowy, with big vertical, a glacier and serious freeride near Lucerne, and we class both resorts as expert. Its real draw is the same kind as yours: the Laub and Steintäli freeride descents, which sit outside every piste figure here, much as the guided glacier days at Courmayeur do. The rule is the same as on Mont Blanc: go with a guide.

Line up the pistes and they barely differ. We measure 46 kilometres around Engelberg, against 42. Thirty-one percent is steeper than one in four, against 32, the biggest share of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, and its reds average 24.0 percent, the steepest of the Swiss resorts we cover and a whisker off your 24.3. Black is level too, 4.5 kilometres against 4.6. A Courmayeur skier will feel at home on the first morning.

The mountain also goes higher. The skiing reaches 3,004 metres, measured, 289 above Courmayeur's top, and the season runs into May. The village, though, is the lowest of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, at 1,000 metres, 224 below yours, so only 53 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres. And the two sides of the valley are not joined: Brunni faces the Titlis across it, linked by a free ski bus. The rest of the trade is the town. Engelberg is unpretentious, not chic.

If the part of Courmayeur you love is the skiing off the edge of the piste, Andermatt has more of it marked than any of the three picks. There are 21 kilometres of marked off piste itinerary, more than six times Courmayeur's 3.3 and the fourth most of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover. The longest we measure, the Guspis-Route, runs 5.5 kilometres with 1,170 metres of vertical. Our read is reborn and snowy, snowfall is one of the things it is known for, and we class it as expert, as we do Courmayeur.

It sits higher at every point. The village is at 1,444 metres, 220 above yours, the skiing tops out at 2,922, measured, 207 higher, and 76 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres. There is more of it to ski: 61 kilometres around the village, 19 more than Courmayeur's, in a pass of 180 kilometres with Sedrun and Disentis, all on one lift system. The Gemsstock is the exception; it stands apart from the linked area.

The trade is the edge on the piste and the character. Twenty-seven percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 32, and the blacks average 30.7 percent against your 36.4, the fourth steepest of the 55 resorts we cover. Andermatt is up and coming, and that is the opposite of an old mountaineering town that has been doing this for generations.

Crans-Montana loses both of Courmayeur's labels on our reading, so it is here for a different reader: the one who goes for the town, the terrace and the spa, and skis because it is there. Our read is sunny and smart, on a plateau with wide views over the Rhône, and golf and spa are on its list. Its marked itinerary is almost exactly yours, 3.2 kilometres against 3.3, and 36 percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, against 35.

It gives you twice the piste and more of everything on it. We measure 85 kilometres around the village, in one linked area of 140 kilometres that three independent sources agree on to the kilometre. There are 12.9 kilometres of black, nearly three times Courmayeur's 4.6, and the snow sits higher: the village is at 1,500 metres, 276 above yours, and 79 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, up to 2,868, 153 above your top.

What goes is the bite. The reds average 19.2 percent against your 24.3, and 22 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 32. We class it as family rather than expert or upmarket, so it is gentler on the mountain and less polished in the town than Courmayeur. Geneva serves both resorts.