Like St Anton, but in France: the steep, the off piste or the nights?

St Anton is two things in our data: lively, and built for strong skiers. Val d'Isère is the only one of the three picks that is both. A group can ski something serious all day and still find a loud evening at the end of it, starting with a party up the mountain and carrying on in the village bars.

Then it adds what St Anton cannot. Its village stands 546 metres higher than St Anton's, at 1,850, the joint fifth highest of the 55 resorts we cover. On our measure 100 percent of its piste is at or above 1,800 metres, the joint biggest share of the 55 we cover, and the skiing reaches 3,205 metres by our measure, 406 above St Anton's top. The season runs from late November to early May. It is part of the Espace Killy, shared with Tignes and quoted at 300 kilometres, a figure that holds up against our own measuring, and around Val d'Isère itself we measure 158 kilometres, level with St Anton's 155. Its 29 kilometres of marked itinerary rank fifth of the 55 we cover, and there are 21.8 kilometres of black.

What you give up is the extremes. Twenty-nine percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 43. The reds average 23.9 percent against 25.8, a touch under the French average red of 24.3, and the blacks 29.9 against 34.1. The itinerary is less than half of St Anton's. For a group of very strong skiers that is a real loss. For everyone else it is a fair price for the height.

Our matching puts Chamonix nearest to St Anton of all the French resorts we cover, and on the hard skiing it earns it. Its 44 kilometres of marked itinerary lead the 17 French resorts we cover and rank third of all 55 we cover, and the Vallée Blanche glacier descent, done with a guide, is among them. Thirty-nine percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, the joint second biggest share of the 17 French resorts we cover. On the groomed runs the reds are steeper than St Anton's: 27.0 percent on average against 25.8, fifth steepest of the 55 we cover. There is nearly as much black, 22.9 kilometres against 24.

It goes higher, too, once you know where to look. The 3,842 metres often quoted for Chamonix belongs to the Aiguille du Midi, a lift for mountaineers, not a piste top. The piste itself tops out at 3,222 metres on the Grands Montets, and 70 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres. The season runs from December into May.

The trade is the shape and the nights. Chamonix is a string of separate areas along the valley, joined by bus and a little train rather than by lifts, and we measure 102.5 kilometres of piste, about two thirds of St Anton's. The town is 269 metres lower than St Anton's village. And while it has plenty of bars, its evenings are a town's evenings, not a party you ski home from: we class it for experts, not as lively. Its blacks are kinder on average too, 28.5 percent against 34.1. For a group that skis hard and sleeps early, Chamonix is the one.

Méribel will surprise a St Anton skier, because on the piste it is closer than its friendly reputation suggests. Its reds average 25.4 percent against St Anton's 25.8, the seventh steepest of the 55 resorts we cover against the sixth. The blacks average 32.8 against 34.1. And there is more black: 29.9 kilometres, the third most of the 55 we cover, against 24. The village sits at 1,450 metres and the skiing reaches 2,891 metres by our measure, both a little above St Anton's.

Then it adds scale. Around Méribel we measure 261 kilometres of piste, the second most of the 55 we cover, inside a Three Valleys quoted at 600 kilometres and genuinely linked. It is snow sure on our measure: 78 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to 2,891. And there are 156 kilometres of green and blue, against St Anton's 66 of blue and easier, which matters if not everyone in your group skis the way you do.

What you give up is the off piste and the noise. There are 5 kilometres of marked itinerary against 70, and 31 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 43. Our read on Méribel is pretty and friendly, a family resort whose après is cheerful rather than wild. It suits the St Anton regular who mostly stays on the piste and is bringing a mixed group.