Like Serre Chevalier, but in Switzerland: the sun travels, the size stays at home

Sunshine heads Crans-Montana's list, before golf and spa, and families, and of the three Swiss picks it is the only one with sunshine on its list at all. It is a sunny plateau with wide views over the Rhône, and our read on it is sunny and smart.

Height is where it beats you. From a village 150 metres above yours, at 1,500, the skiing climbs to 2,868 by our measurement, 117 higher than at Serre Chevalier. Seventy nine percent of the piste sits at or above 1,800 metres, where yours is 72, the fourth largest share of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover. On our measure it is snow sure.

The middle of the mountain is kinder. Twenty two percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, where yours is 27, and the reds average 19.2 percent, gentler than your 24.9 and than a typical Swiss red. Do not judge it by the map: Swiss grading marks most of it red, and only 22.0 kilometres counts as blue and easier, the fifth least of the 55 resorts we cover, set against your 91.4 of green and blue.

What you leave behind is the size, the trees and the quiet. We measure 85.2 kilometres of piste around Crans-Montana, against your 152.7, inside one linked area of 140 that three independent sources agree on to the kilometre. The black comes to 12.9 kilometres, against your 16.7, but the longest piste we measure here is a 4.0 kilometre black with 843 metres of vertical, longer than Tabuc, your longest. Its tag is family, not quiet, and you fly to Geneva.

Our matching puts Wengen closer to Serre Chevalier than any other resort of the 55 we cover, and it keeps the one tag we give Serre Chevalier: quiet. It is a car free balcony village under the Jungfrau, peaceful and car free by our read, tagged quiet, and we list it for being car free, its scenery and families. The village is at 1,274 metres, 76 below yours.

The skiing is gentle and even. Thirty nine percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, against your 38, the third biggest share of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, and only 20 percent is steeper than one in four. The reds average 20.1 percent and the blacks 24.3, the fourth gentlest blacks of the 55 resorts we cover. There are more of them, though: 20.4 kilometres of black, the second most of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, against your 16.7.

Two figures need care. Wengen's own sector is 101 kilometres, shared with Grindelwald, on a 211 kilometre pass across three areas that are not all joined. The 125.3 kilometres we measure, and the 66 percent of it at or above 1,800 metres, come from a mapped area that runs on to the Jungfraujoch, beyond Wengen's own skiing, so treat both as a guide. Wengen's top lift is at 2,320 metres; lift against lift, Serre Chevalier's is 429 metres higher. We have not made Wengen's snow sure call either way. You fly to Zurich or Geneva.

Adelboden starts where you do. The village is at 1,350 metres, the same height as yours, and 38 percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, the same share. It is a classic chalet village linked to Lenk, traditional and warm by our read, and we list it as traditional, for families and for its World Cup racing. It is not tagged quiet.

The skiing is a little kinder in the middle: 25 percent is steeper than one in four, against your 27, and the reds average 21.3 percent against your 24.9. There are 52.3 kilometres of blue and easier, the most of the three picks, against your 91.4 of green and blue.

The trade is height. Adelboden does not pass our snow sure test: 55 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, the skiing tops out at 2,356, 395 below yours, and half its piste sits above 1,829 metres, against 2,020 at Serre Chevalier. The Adelboden-Lenk domain you can ski from the village is 85 kilometres, Lenk included; the pass covers 188, across five areas that are not all joined, and our 114.6 measured around the village takes in more than that linked domain. You fly to Zurich or Geneva.