Like Le Grand-Bornand, but in Austria: the same village height, more skiing up high

Of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, our matching puts Bad Gastein closest to Le Grand-Bornand. Start with what is the same. Both villages are at 1,000 metres, and 37 percent of the piste at each is steeper than one in four, joint eighth of the 55 resorts we cover. We tag both traditional. Our read on Bad Gastein is grand and characterful, faded belle époque grandeur and thermal spas, with the spa and the scenery on its list.

Then what sits above the village. Bad Gastein's skiing reaches 2,644 metres by our measure, on piste, 282 above your highest piste and the fifth highest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover. Half the piste we measure, 50 percent, is at or above 1,800 metres, against 15, and the median piste height is 1,799 metres, 317 above Le Grand-Bornand's. Our snow sure test asks for more than half, so on our measure it falls just short.

The steep is arranged more kindly. The blues average 14.9 percent against your 17.4, and the reds 25.0 against 28.1, though they are still the fourth steepest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover. There is far more red to practise on, 57.1 kilometres, 54 percent of the piste, against 21.8. And there is a 1.5 kilometre marked off piste itinerary, where Le Grand-Bornand has none in our data.

On size, we measure 107 kilometres around the village, but that is more than Bad Gastein's own area of 83, so our figure probably takes in neighbouring skiing down the valley. On the 83, the two are close. Ski amadé covers 760 kilometres across five regions that are not all joined.

What you give up is the quiet, and families are not on its list. The easy end shrinks too: 41 kilometres of blue and easier, 39 percent of the piste, against your 52 of green and blue. You fly to Salzburg.

In our guide, Kitzbühel is a walled medieval town that the skiing grew up around, with the Hahnenkamm races and the Streif above it. We tag it traditional, as we do Le Grand-Bornand, but also lively, and the guide puts its nightlife among the best things about it. That is a different evening from a farming village, though the guide says mixed ability families do well there.

The mountain is bigger and arranged differently. We measure 135 kilometres around the town; the 230 you will see quoted is not measured by us. There are 63 kilometres of blue and easier, against your 52 of green and blue, and the reds average 20.3 percent, the gentlest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, against your 28.1. The bite is in the black: 34 kilometres of it, the most of the 55 resorts we cover, against 11.3, though it averages 25.9 percent against your 34.3.

The trade is height. The town is at 800 metres, 200 below yours, and the skiing tops out at 1,968 metres by our measure, 394 below your highest piste and the third lowest of the 55 resorts we cover. Eleven percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against 15, and our guide credits snowmaking with keeping the main runs open.

Our matching puts Mayrhofen second of the Austrian resorts we cover. We tag it family, as we do Le Grand-Bornand, with families on its list beside nightlife and a snow park, but our read is lively and welcoming, a Zillertal town with a steep signature run. It is not a quiet week.

On the gentle end it is a near match. Thirty two percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, the same share as yours, and the blues average 12.7 percent, the gentlest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, against your 17.4. The reds average 23.3 percent, close to a typical Austrian red, against 28.1. The town is at 630 metres, the second lowest of the 55 resorts we cover and 370 below yours, yet 55 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres, against 15, and the median piste height is 1,829 metres, 347 above yours.

The trade is how much easy skiing there is. Mayrhofen has 28.5 kilometres of blue and easier, the least of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, against your 52 of green and blue. Its own domain is 142 kilometres, and we measure 90.5 around the town.