Like Tignes, but in Austria: keeping the snow, losing the height

Ischgl gives you the most of a Tignes week in one place. The season runs from late November into May, the same shape as yours. It is snow sure on our measure: 90 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to 2,868, the second biggest share of the Austrian resorts we cover. We measure 152 kilometres of piste around the village, 22 more than around Tignes, and a lift link over the border takes you into Switzerland at Samnaun, which is duty free.

For the strong skiers in your group there is more, not less. Ischgl has 26.8 kilometres of black, the fifth most of the 55 resorts we cover, against Tignes's 20.5, and 10.6 kilometres of marked itinerary, against 14.2. Thirty-four percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 25. The share of gentle piste is identical, 30 percent gentler than 15 percent at both.

The trade is the easy skiing, the height and the mood. More than half of Ischgl is red, and there are 42.6 kilometres of blue and easier, against Tignes's 76 of green and blue. Those reds average 20.7 percent, gentler than Tignes's 23.1, so they ski kinder than the map suggests; that is an average per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch. The village is 723 metres lower and the top 581 lower. And where Tignes is practical, Ischgl is high energy by our read, with nightlife first on its list and the après under way in ski boots by mid afternoon.

Our matching puts Hintertux nearest to Tignes of all the Austrian resorts we cover, and the reason is the thing you care about most. Its glacier is open every day of the year, the only one in Austria to manage that by our own description. Ninety-six percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against Tignes's 97, the biggest share of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, and the skiing reaches 3,239 metres by our measure, 210 below Tignes's top. We class it as modern, as we do Tignes, and our read on it is snowy and no frills, which a Tignes regular will take as a compliment.

What it is not is big, or varied. The glacier itself is 62 kilometres, and we measure 110 around the village. The wider Ski Zillertal 3000 area is 206 kilometres but needs a bus from the glacier side. There are 2.9 kilometres of black, the least of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, and no marked off piste itinerary at all.

The mountain is also steep in the middle. Thirty-two percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 25, and the blues average 19.3 percent, the steepest of the Austrian resorts we cover and the second steepest of the 55 resorts we cover. Tignes's own blues, at 17.6, are already the second steepest of the French resorts we cover. The village is at 1,500 metres, 600 below Tignes, and training is on our list of what it does best. Hintertux is a week for the snow, first and last.

Zürs is the outsider: our matching carries no Tignes trait across to it. It earns its place for two reasons. The village is at 1,720 metres, the second highest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover and the nearest any of the three gets to Tignes. And it has off piste on a scale Tignes does not: 40.2 kilometres of marked itinerary, the fourth most of the 55 resorts we cover and nearly three times Tignes's 14.2. It shares a lift pass with Lech and St Anton.

The rest is a different resort. We measure 75 kilometres of piste around the village, and the Arlberg's size is not classified in our data, so we compare on that. Only 21 percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, the smallest share of the Austrian resorts we cover, and there are 31.3 kilometres of blue and easier. The skiing tops out at 2,440 metres by our measure, 74 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800, and we make no snow sure call on it. The season is December to April. And our read on it is exclusive and quiet, a long way from Tignes's practical bustle. Go to Zürs for the off piste.