Like St Anton, but in Switzerland: how close can you get?

If what you love about St Anton is the skiing that is not groomed, Andermatt is where to look. It is the only one of the three that we class as a resort for strong skiers, and off piste and snowfall top the list of what it is known for. It has 21 kilometres of marked itinerary, the fourth most of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, and its longest marked route, the Guspis-Route, runs for 5.5 kilometres with 1,170 metres of vertical. Its blacks average 30.7 percent, the third steepest of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover and well above the Swiss average black of 26.7.

The height carries over too. The village is at 1,444 metres, 140 above St Anton's, and the skiing reaches 2,922 metres by our measure, 123 above St Anton's top. It is snow sure on our measure, more so than St Anton: 76 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres. The linked area runs on to Sedrun and Disentis, 180 kilometres on the pass, and the Gemsstock sits outside it.

What you give up is volume. Around Andermatt itself we measure 61 kilometres of piste, among the five smallest figures of the 55 resorts we cover, with 8.3 kilometres of black against 24. The itinerary is under a third of St Anton's. Our read on Andermatt is reborn, snowy and up and coming, not a party. Go for the snow and the off piste, with a guide, and do not expect St Anton's evenings.

Davos is the pick if what you love is a big area with plenty of black on it. We measure 145 kilometres of piste around the town against St Anton's 155, and no Swiss resort we cover has more black than its 20.7 kilometres. There are 13.3 kilometres of marked itinerary. The skiing reaches 2,808 metres by our measure, level with St Anton's top, and it is snow sure on our measure: 78 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres.

It is also the nearest of the three to a night out. Davos is a working town, with trams and supermarkets as well as bars, and the noise lives on the Jakobshorn, the freestyle mountain, which has lively bars at its foot and a younger crowd. You will not ski home past the party, but you can find one.

Know how it fits together before you book. The Davos Klosters pass spans mountains that are not all joined by lift. Only the Parsenn, 95.5 kilometres, links the two villages; for the others you take a train, a bus or the car. The official count of 300 kilometres is 34 percent more than the 224 we make it, measuring the same ten lift areas.

And know what the black runs feel like. Only 23 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against St Anton's 43. The blacks average 25.8 percent, under the Swiss average black of 26.7 and a long way under St Anton's 34.1. Davos gives you plenty of black, without much bite.

Arosa is the furthest of the three from St Anton in our matching, and the right answer for a different St Anton group: the one where only half of you ski the steep. Arosa and Lenzerheide make one area of 225 kilometres, the two valleys tied together by a cable car, and three sources give the same figure. Around Arosa there are 183 kilometres of piste on our measure, which beats St Anton's 155 and every other Swiss resort we cover. No Swiss resort we cover has more blue and easier, either: 96.6 kilometres.

The steep end is thin but real. On average gradient, Arosa's blacks are the steepest of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, 32.4 percent against St Anton's 34.1, though there are only 14.5 kilometres of them. The village sits at 1,800 metres, the second highest of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, and it is snow sure on our measure: 65 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to 2,848.

The trade is everything St Anton is famous for. Arosa is a sunny, easy going family resort by our read, with none of St Anton's edge. It has 8.5 kilometres of marked itinerary, and 24 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four. It is a St Anton week only for the half of the group that never went off piste anyway.