Like Sölden, but in France: where the snow and the nights both travel

Val d'Isère is the only one of the three that is lively by our read, and it has a glacier of its own, the Pissaillas, at the high end of the valley. Its season, late November to early May, is the nearest match to Sölden's of any pick here.

Then it does the height differently. The skiing reaches 3,205 metres by our measure, 101 short of Sölden's top, but the village sits at 1,850 metres, 482 above Sölden's and the joint fifth highest of the 55 resorts we cover. Every kilometre of piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, and no resort we cover has a bigger share. Sölden keeps its certainty on the glaciers. Val d'Isère keeps it all the way down to the front door.

It is also more mountain. Val d'Isère shares the Espace Killy with Tignes, quoted at 300 kilometres, a figure that holds up against our own measurement. Around the village alone we measure 158 kilometres, 22.4 more than around Sölden, with 90 kilometres of green and blue and 28.7 kilometres of marked off piste itinerary, the fifth most of the 55 we cover. Sölden has none in our data.

What changes is the top end and the tone. Val d'Isère's 21.8 kilometres of black is a little more than Sölden's 19, but it averages 29.9 percent against 33.3, so the marked blacks are kinder and the hard skiing has moved off piste. And it is upmarket as well as lively: the evenings run from a quiet wine bar to a full afternoon of après on the mountain, in a village of stone and timber.

Our matching ranks Serre Chevalier the nearest French resort to Sölden, and on two counts it is right. The village is at 1,350 metres, 18 below Sölden's, and we measure 153 kilometres of piste around it, 17.3 more than around Sölden. The share steeper than one in four is close too, 27 percent against 30.

The feel is not. Serre Chevalier is relaxed, sunny and quiet by our read, a string of old villages with trees to ski among, and nightlife is not what it sells. The mountain is gentler at the easy end and steeper in the middle: 38 percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, against Sölden's 26, and there are 91 kilometres of green and blue, but the reds average 24.9 percent against 23.7. The blacks average 27.8 against 33.3.

The biggest trade is height. The skiing tops out at 2,751 metres, 555 below Sölden's, and 72 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres against 89. That is still snow sure on our measure, with less in hand, and the season runs December to April.

Méribel is the surprise. Take away the scale and its runs feel like Sölden's: 31 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 30, the blues average 17.0 percent against 17.3, and the blacks 32.8 against 33.3. The village is 82 metres higher, at 1,450.

Then put the scale back. Méribel sits in the middle of the Three Valleys, quoted at 600 kilometres and genuinely linked, and around the village alone we measure 261 kilometres, nearly twice Sölden's 135 and the second most of the 55 resorts we cover. It has 156 kilometres of green and blue and 29.9 of black, the second and third most of the 55 we cover. The reds are steeper, at 25.4 percent against 23.7.

What you lose is height and noise. The skiing tops out at 2,891 metres, 415 below Sölden's top, with 78 percent of the piste we measure above 1,800 metres; snow sure on our measure, if less so. And Méribel is pretty and friendly by our read, built in chalet style, with après that is cheerful rather than wild. It is the family pick of the three.