Like Lech, but in France: the same mountain, without the hush

Our matching puts Méribel nearer to Lech than any resort we cover, in any country, and the measurements show why. The village is at 1,450 metres, the same height as Lech's. The blues average 17.0 percent at both. Thirty-one percent of Méribel's piste is steeper than one in four, against 33, and 32 percent is gentler than 15 percent, against 31. There is a little more black, 29.9 kilometres against 26, the third most of the 55 we cover. If you put a Lech skier on Méribel's piste map, most of the week would feel familiar.

Then there is more of it. We measure 261 kilometres of piste around Méribel, half as much again as Lech and the second most of the 55 we cover, at the centre of the Three Valleys, which is genuinely linked and quoted at 600 kilometres. There are 156 kilometres of green and blue, nearly twice Lech's 79 of blue and easier, and both Méribel and Lech are known for families. It is snow sure on our measure: 78 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to 2,891, which is 451 above Lech's top.

What you give up is the quiet and the off piste. Our read on Méribel is pretty and friendly, chalet style and good for families, with a cheerful après rather than Lech's grown up one. Understated luxury is not what it does. There are 5 kilometres of marked itinerary against Lech's 56, and its reds are steeper, averaging 25.4 percent against 22.3.

If what you love about Lech is the luxury, Courchevel is the French answer: upmarket by our read, and known for gourmet dining. It is also the biggest. We measure 296 kilometres of piste around its villages, the most of the 55 resorts we cover, with 178.5 kilometres of green and blue, also the most, and 32 kilometres of black, the second most. There are trees to ski when the weather closes in, and it is snow sure on our measure: 71 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to 2,697.

The difference is the tone. Courchevel 1850, the top village, is glossy in a way Lech is not. The answer is to stay lower: Le Praz is the old village, with its Savoyard character and slower pace, and 1650 is the quieter, family end. Neither is Lech, but both are closer to it than 1850.

You also give up the off piste. There are 4.5 kilometres of marked itinerary against 56, and 26 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 33. Courchevel is the pick for a Lech family that comes for the food and the cruising more than the powder.

Val d'Isère keeps two things Lech regulars care about, the upmarket feel and the off piste, and adds height. Its marked itinerary comes to 29 kilometres, about half of Lech's but still fifth of the 55 resorts we cover. The village is 400 metres higher than Lech, at 1,850, which ranks joint fifth of the 55 we cover. No resort we cover has a bigger share of its piste at or above 1,800 metres: on our measure, all of it. The skiing tops out at 3,205 metres by our measure, 765 above Lech's top, and the season runs from late November to early May. The Espace Killy, shared with Tignes, is quoted at 300 kilometres, and our own measuring backs that figure up.

The trade is the peace. Val d'Isère is lively as well as upmarket, with a party up the mountain in the afternoon and bars that stay open late, and it is not one we class as a family resort. We measure 158 kilometres of piste around the village against Lech's 175, with 21.8 of black against 26. For a Lech couple who go for the snow and the powder and can sleep through some noise, it is the better week. For a Lech family that values the quiet, Méribel fits better.