Like Livigno, but in Austria: the height moves up the mountain

Sölden is the one pick that keeps Livigno's lively week. It is sporty and lively by our read, with glaciers, snow sure skiing and nightlife the three things it does best, and its season runs from late November to May, the same as yours. You can fly to Innsbruck for either.

The height is there, just higher up. The village, at 1,368 metres, is 448 below yours, but the skiing reaches 3,306 metres by our measure, the highest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover and 539 above Livigno's top. Half of Sölden's piste lies above 2,402 metres, against 2,352 at Livigno, and 89 percent is at or above 1,800, so it is snow sure on our measure.

The slope will feel like home. Sölden's blues average 17.3 percent against your 17.8, its reds 23.7 against 23.1 and its blacks 33.3 against 33.2. Grade labels do not travel, but these gradients nearly do. The steep share is lower, 30 percent against your 40.

There is far more of it, and more of the easy kind. We measure 135 kilometres of piste around the village, 54.5 more than around Livigno, with 76.8 kilometres of blue and easier, 57 percent of the piste, against your 24.6, and 19 kilometres of black against 8.9. Its area is not classified in our data, so we compare on what we measure. The trade is the village height, the duty free and the value label.

Our matching puts Hintertux closer to Livigno than any other resort we cover. It is a glacier, snowy and no frills by our read, and by our own line the only Austrian glacier open every day of the year. If what you love is skiing that sits high, Hintertux has more of it than any other Austrian resort we cover: 96 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres, and half of it lies above 2,853 metres. The skiing reaches 3,239 metres, 472 above your top.

Its blues are steeper still. They average 19.3 percent, the second steepest of the 55 resorts we cover, against your 17.8, and 32 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four. There are 41.8 kilometres of blue and easier and 110 kilometres of piste in all by our measure, which takes in more than the glacier's own 62. The Ski Zillertal 3000 area's 206 kilometres needs a bus.

What it does not keep is the life or the hard end. Our tags class Hintertux as modern, not lively, and there are 2.9 kilometres of black; only one of the 55 resorts we cover has less. The village is at 1,500 metres, 316 below yours.

For waking up high, Obertauern is the nearest of the Austrian resorts we cover. The village is at 1,740 metres, the highest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover and 76 below yours, and the season matches yours, late November to May. It is high and snowy by our read, and its skiing makes a neat loop, with ski in ski out on its list.

It is also kinder for a mixed group. Thirty-six percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, the second biggest share of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, against your 25, and the blues average 14.5 percent against 17.8. There are 40.9 kilometres of blue and easier, 55 percent of the piste.

The catch is above the village. The skiing stops at 2,304 metres by our measure, 463 below your top, and 61 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres, so for all its height at the door Obertauern is not snow sure on our measure. We measure 74 kilometres of piste, 7.2 fewer than around Livigno and the least of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, and there are 4 kilometres of black, though they average 37.8 percent, the steepest of the 55 resorts we cover. We give it no lively tag.