Like St Moritz, but in Austria: the snow, if not the sparkle

Our matching puts Sölden nearer to St Moritz than any other Austrian resort we cover, and the top of the mountain is the clearest reason. Its skiing reaches 3,306 metres by our measure, the highest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover and 40 above St Moritz's top. It has two glaciers, the Rettenbach and the Tiefenbach, and the season runs from late November to May, starting earlier and finishing later than St Moritz's. It is snow sure on our measure: 89 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres.

There is more skiing, and much more of it easy. We measure 135 kilometres of piste around the village, against 106, and 76.8 kilometres of blue and easier, more than twice St Moritz's 30. There are 19 kilometres of black against your 16. And Sölden has its own kind of occasion: it was a James Bond location, and lunch at the ice Q restaurant, a glass building at over 3,000 metres, is the meal people book ahead for.

The trade is the village and the mood. Sölden sits at 1,368 metres, 454 below St Moritz, in a long village with a road running through it, so the snow certainty lives up on the glaciers rather than outside the door. Our read on it is sporty and lively, and the après is loud, with ski boots still on, rather than champagne in a hotel bar. The mountain is a little steeper, too: 30 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 24, and the reds average 23.7 percent, against 21.0.

If what you value about St Moritz is that the snow is simply there, Hintertux is the nearest Austria gets. Ninety-six percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, the highest share of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover and a point short of St Moritz's 97. The skiing reaches 3,239 metres by our measure, 27 below your top, and it is the only Austrian glacier open every day of the year.

The skiing is a similar shape, too. We measure 110 kilometres of piste around the village, against 106. About 59 percent of it is red, against St Moritz's 57, exactly the same 28 percent is gentler than 15 percent, and neither has any marked itinerary that we measure. Even the layout rhymes: the glacier is 62 kilometres on its own, and the 206 kilometres of Ski Zillertal 3000 beyond it needs a bus, so, as at St Moritz, the big number is not one linked area. Ignore the 546 kilometre Superskipass figure, which counts some of the same pistes twice.

What you give up is everything that is not snow. Our read on Hintertux is snowy and no frills, a place people go to train. The village is at 1,500 metres, 322 below St Moritz. It is also steeper at the easy end: its blues average 19.3 percent, the steepest of the Austrian resorts we cover, against your 16.4, and 32 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four. At the top end there are only 2.9 kilometres of black, the least of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover.

Obertauern's village is at 1,740 metres, the highest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover and just 82 below St Moritz. Our read on it is high and snowy, it is ski in ski out, and the skiing makes a neat loop. It is gentler at the easy end than St Moritz: 36 percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, against 28.

The catch is that the height stops at the village. The skiing tops out at 2,304 metres by our measure, 962 below St Moritz's top. Sixty-one percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, but the skiing stops below the height our snow sure test asks for, so on our measure Obertauern is not snow sure, high village or not. We measure 74 kilometres of piste, the least of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover. The few blacks are serious, averaging 37.8 percent, the steepest of the 55 resorts we cover, but there are only 4 kilometres of them. A snowy, compact week, not a St Moritz one.