Like Crans-Montana, but in France: the sun or the gentle height, rarely both

Our matching pairs these two from both ends: Saint-Martin is Crans-Montana's closest French match, and Crans-Montana is the closest resort to Saint-Martin of all the 55 we cover. Around the two villages the skiing is near level. Saint-Martin sits at 1,450 metres, 50 below yours. Seventy five percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against your 79, and half of it sits above 2,040 metres, against 2,010 at Crans-Montana. It is snow sure on our measure, with a lower top: 2,691 metres by our measure, 177 below yours.

The gentle shape comes with it. At both, 36 percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, and 20 percent of Saint-Martin's is steeper than one in four, against your 22. Its reds average 21.9 percent, the second gentlest of the 17 French resorts we cover; yours are gentler at 19.2, but a typical French red is 24.3. And the map is kinder: 50.2 kilometres of green and blue, against your 22 of blue and easier.

Beyond the village it is a different scale. Saint-Martin shares its pass with Courchevel, Méribel and Val Thorens, and the Three Valleys is genuinely linked and quoted at 600 kilometres, a figure we have not measured ourselves. Around Saint-Martin itself we measure 75 kilometres, against your 85.

The trade is the sun, the family tag and the hard end. Neither sunshine nor golf and spa is on its list, and family is not on its tags: our read is traditional and quiet, an old Savoyard village, best for authenticity, food and the Three Valleys. There are 6 kilometres of black against 12.9, the second least of the 17 French resorts we cover, and no marked itinerary in our data, against your 3.2, which our matching names as the biggest difference. Geneva is one of its airports, as it is yours.

If the light is what you go for, Serre Chevalier is the French pick that says so. Sunshine is on its list of what it does best, as it is on yours, and our read is relaxed and sunny: sun, trees and a string of old villages, best for tree skiing, sunshine and value.

It keeps the height, too. The skiing reaches 2,751 metres by our measure, 117 below yours, and 72 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, so it is snow sure on our measure. The village is at 1,350 metres, 150 below Crans-Montana.

The piste grows, and our matching names the size as the biggest difference. We measure 153 kilometres of piste around its villages, against your 85, with 91.4 kilometres of green and blue, 40.8 of them green, and 16.7 kilometres of black against 12.9.

The trade is the soft reds. Serre Chevalier's reds average 24.9 percent, against your 19.2 and a typical French red at 24.3, and 27 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 22. Family is not on its tags, and you fly to Turin or Grenoble rather than Geneva.

Les Gets is the only one of the three that keeps your family tag. We tag it traditional and family, our read is warm and traditional, and it is a pretty village at the gateway to the Portes du Soleil, best for families, tree skiing and the charm of the village. Geneva is the airport, as it is yours.

The mountain is a similar shape. Twenty three percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against your 22, and 34 percent is gentler than 15 percent, against 36. There are 55.3 kilometres of green and blue against your 22 of blue and easier, and around the village we measure 99 kilometres against 85. The Portes du Soleil is one linked circuit, sold as 600 kilometres and measured at 580, and an independent measurement puts it nearer 426.

The trade is the height, all of it. The village is at 1,172 metres, 328 below yours, and the skiing tops out at 1,965 metres by our measure, the lowest of the 17 French resorts we cover and 903 below your top. One percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, so it is not snow sure on our measure. The reds average 23.2 percent, steeper than yours, and there is no marked itinerary in our data.