Like Serre Chevalier, but in Austria: the mountain travels, the quiet does not

Put the two mountains side by side and the numbers line up. We measure 152.3 kilometres of piste around Ischgl, level with your 152.7, from a village at 1,377 metres, 27 above yours. Then Ischgl goes further. The skiing climbs to 2,868 metres on our measure, 117 above yours, and 90 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres, the second largest share of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, against your 72. Half its piste sits above 2,363 metres, where half of yours sits above 2,020. It is snow sure on our measure, and the season runs from late November into May, longer at both ends than yours.

The shape inside that is different. More than half of Ischgl's piste is red, and only 42.6 kilometres is blue and easier, against your 91.4 of green and blue. Those reds are kind on average, 20.7 percent against your 24.9, but 34 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against your 27, the tenth biggest share of the 55 resorts we cover. The hard end grows a long way: 26.8 kilometres of black, the fifth most of the 55 resorts we cover, against your 16.7, and 10.6 of marked off piste itinerary against your 1.7.

Then there are the nights. Ischgl is big, snow sure skiing and legendary nights out, high energy by our read, with nightlife first on its list. Our guide describes après that starts in ski boots as the lifts close and open air concerts it is famous for. For a quieter week it suggests staying a little away from the loudest streets, or across the border in Samnaun, on the Swiss side and on the same lifts. You fly to Innsbruck or Zurich.

Schladming is floodlit night skiing and a friendly valley town, down to earth and friendly by our read, and we list it for night skiing, families and value. It is the only one of the three that keeps value on its list, and its mountain skis more like yours than either of the others. Twenty seven percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, the same share as yours, and 39 percent is gentler than 15 percent, against your 38, the biggest share of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover. The reds average 24.4 percent, against your 24.9. There are 59.3 kilometres of blue and easier, the most of the three picks, and the four mountains are linked end to end, 123 kilometres with no bus.

The catch is height, and it is a big one. The town is at 745 metres, 605 below your village. The skiing tops out at 2,001 metres, the fourth lowest top of the 55 resorts we cover and 750 below yours, and only 7 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres, the third smallest share of the 55 resorts we cover. It does not pass our snow sure test. You fly to Salzburg.

Our matching puts Bad Gastein closer to Serre Chevalier than any other Austrian resort we cover, and two figures sit close to yours. Its reds average 25.0 percent, the ninth steepest of the 55 resorts we cover, just above your 24.9, the tenth steepest. And its skiing reaches 2,644 metres, 107 below yours. It is also the one pick tagged traditional, though not quiet: faded belle époque grandeur and thermal spas, grand and characterful by our read, listed for belle époque, spa and scenery.

Elsewhere it is steeper and lower. Thirty seven percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, the third biggest share of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, and only 29 percent is gentler than 15 percent, against your 38. The village is at 1,000 metres, 350 below yours, the lowest piste we measure runs down to 843, and half the piste is at or above 1,800 metres. Our snow sure test needs more than half, so Bad Gastein does not pass. Its own area is 83 kilometres; we measure 106.6 around it, which takes in more than that, and it sits on the Ski amadé pass, 760 kilometres across five regions that are not all joined. You fly to Salzburg.