Like Val d'Isère, but in Switzerland: the height travels, the steep is harder

If the height is what you would miss, and for many Val d'Isère skiers it is, St Moritz is the Swiss answer. No Swiss village we cover sits higher than its 1,822 metres, and by our measure its skiing climbs to 3,266, which is 61 metres above Val d'Isère's top. It is snow sure on our measure, and comfortably: 97 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, a share only four of the 55 resorts we cover beat. It is also the only one of the three that keeps Val d'Isère's upmarket edge.

The evenings are a different kind of lively. Our read on St Moritz is glamorous and sunny, and the nights run to champagne bars, grand hotel bars and a few late clubs rather than dancing in ski boots. And for anyone in the group who skis less than you, there is more to do off the snow than almost anywhere, starting with the events on the frozen lake.

The trade is the skiing, and a strong skier will feel it. The mountains are separate, so each day starts with a choice of which one, and the 350 kilometres you will see quoted is the pass across all of them. We measure 106 kilometres around the town, about two thirds of Val d'Isère's 158. Only 24 percent is steeper than one in four, and the blacks average 25.5 percent, against 29.9 at Val d'Isère. There is not much easy ground either: 30 kilometres of blue and easier, against Val d'Isère's 90 of green and blue. The hard skiing lives on Corvatsch, with its testing blacks, and on the guided glacier descent from Diavolezza. The longest piste we measure is the Hahnensee, a black of 3.2 kilometres with 764 metres of vertical.

Davos is the pick if you go to Val d'Isère for the black runs and the off piste. No Swiss resort we cover has more black: 21 kilometres, close to Val d'Isère's 22. It also has 13.3 kilometres of marked itinerary, the most of our three picks, though under half of Val d'Isère's 28.7. Our matching puts it closest of all the Swiss resorts we cover. It is snow sure on our measure: 78 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to 2,808.

It also has the evenings, in its own way. Davos is a busy, practical town, and the night does not hang on one square. The Jakobshorn is the freeride mountain and the party end of town, and the Parsenn gives the long runs, all the way down to Klosters.

Two trades. Those blacks are many but forgiving: they average 25.8 percent, a little gentler than the typical Swiss black at 26.7 and well short of Val d'Isère's 29.9, and 23 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 29. And the mountains do not join up. Klosters shares the Parsenn, 95.5 kilometres of it, and reaching the others means a train, a bus or the car. The official 300 kilometres is about a third more than the 224 we measure across the same lift areas. The town is at 1,560 metres, 290 below Val d'Isère, and the skiing stops 397 metres short of your top.

Of the three, only Arosa skis as a single joined up area. Arosa Lenzerheide covers 225 kilometres in two valleys tied together by one cable car, and three sources agree on the figure. Around the village itself we measure 183 kilometres, more than the 158 around Val d'Isère and more than at any other Swiss resort we cover. Its 97 kilometres of blue and easier also top the Swiss list, and beat Val d'Isère's 90 of green and blue. The village is at 1,800 metres, 50 below yours.

There is a surprise for a strong skier. At 32.4 percent on average, Arosa's blacks are steeper than any other Swiss resort's we cover, and steeper than Val d'Isère's 29.9. There are only 14.5 kilometres of them, but they are proper. The longest piste we measure there is a red of 4.3 kilometres with 808 metres of vertical.

Otherwise it is a gentler place. We see it as a sunny family resort, with nothing on its list about nights out. It is snow sure on our measure, but with less in hand: 65 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to 2,848, which is 357 below Val d'Isère's top.