Like Saalbach-Hinterglemm, but in France: the circuit or the party?

Our matching puts Méribel nearest to Saalbach-Hinterglemm of all the French resorts we cover, and the reason is the shape of the week. Méribel sits in the middle of the Three Valleys, quoted at 600 kilometres and genuinely linked, so the day is the same kind of journey from one village to the next. Around Méribel alone we measure 261 kilometres, 69.1 more than around Saalbach and the second most of the 55 we cover. Of that, 156 kilometres is green and blue, also second of the 55 we cover, and 32 percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, against 31 at Saalbach. It is a family resort by our read, as Saalbach is.

The big change is the snow. The village is at 1,450 metres, 447 above Saalbach's, and the skiing reaches 2,891 metres, 801 higher. Seventy-eight percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, against 19, which makes Méribel snow sure on our measure. For a Saalbach regular who has spent a warm week planning around the snow, that alone may settle it.

There is more at the hard end too: 29.9 kilometres of black, the third most of the 55 we cover, against Saalbach's 12.4. Oddly, the pistes in between are kinder. Only 31 percent is steeper than one in four, against 42, and the reds average 25.4 percent against 27.8.

What you give up is the noise. Méribel is pretty and friendly by our read, not lively. The après starts at the bottom of the runs and is good humoured rather than wild, and the village, built in chalet style, is calm enough for a family to sleep.

If the part of Saalbach you love is the evening, La Clusaz is the only one of the three picks that is lively by our read. It is also family minded and traditional, a lively local village with a weekend feel, and at 1,100 metres it sits only 97 above Saalbach's valley floor.

The skiing measures like Saalbach's in the ways that surprise people. La Clusaz's reds average 29.0 percent, the steepest of the 55 resorts we cover, and its blacks 37.3 percent, the second steepest, against Saalbach's 27.8 and 36.9. Thirty-nine percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 42. The blues go the other way, averaging 14.6 percent against 17.8, so beginners have a gentler time of it than at Saalbach.

The trade is size, and there is no hiding it. We measure 97 kilometres of piste, about half of Saalbach's, with 56 kilometres of green and blue against 122 of blue and easier, 8.9 kilometres of black and no marked itinerary in our data. It is low in the same way, too: the skiing tops out at 2,458 metres, 368 higher than Saalbach's, but only 18 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres. It is not snow sure on our measure, and neither is Saalbach.

Saalbach-Hinterglemm grew from farming villages. Le Grand-Bornand still is one, a rural and friendly place that keeps the pace gentle. The village sits at 1,000 metres, three below Saalbach's, which makes it the closest of the three on height at the door. It is quiet, traditional and good for families by our read, and it shares the Aravis area with La Clusaz.

The gradients will feel familiar. The reds average 28.1 percent, the third steepest of the 55 we cover, the blues 17.4 against Saalbach's 17.8, and 37 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four. There are 52 kilometres of green and blue, 17.4 of them green, which suits a first week on skis.

What it does not have is Saalbach's scale or its nights. We measure 85 kilometres of piste around the village, and only 15 percent of it is above 1,800 metres. It is a calm week in a real village, closer in spirit to Hinterglemm on a quiet evening than to Saalbach on a loud one.