Like Val Gardena, but in Switzerland: the soft reds travel, the circuit does not

Scenery is on Val Gardena's list of what it does best, and on Grindelwald's. This is skiing beneath the north face of the Eiger, postcard pretty by our read, with the Mönch and the Jungfrau beside it, and it carries the traditional tag too. Our matching puts it second of the Swiss resorts for Val Gardena.

The skiing is the nearest thing to yours we measure in Switzerland. Fifteen percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against your 13, and 42 percent is gentler than 15 percent, the third biggest share of the 55 resorts we cover, a step above your 40. The reds average 18.3 percent, a point steeper than yours, and only four of the 55 resorts we cover have gentler ones. The long red you know is here in a bigger size: the longest run we measure is a 5.0 kilometre red with 700 metres of drop, against your 3.9 kilometres and 395.

There is a little more at both ends. We measure 55.4 kilometres of blue and easier against your 42.4, and 19.1 of black against 16.4. We class Grindelwald as a family resort, which Val Gardena is not on our tags, and families and rail access are on its list.

The trade is height and reach. The village is at 1,034 metres, 529 below yours, and 59 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres, against your 66. On the runs the two tops are level: Grindelwald's skiing reaches 2,496 metres, 16 above the highest piste we measure at Val Gardena. And the network is smaller: 150 kilometres is reachable on Grindelwald's own lifts, on a 211 kilometre pass where Mürren is not lift linked. The areas are joined by trains and gondolas rather than one web of lifts.

If the scale is what you would miss, Arosa comes nearest. It is a gentle, sunny bowl linked to Lenzerheide by one cable car, and the two make a single 225 kilometre domain, a figure three sources agree on. We measure 183 kilometres of piste around Arosa, the most of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover and 37.8 more than around Val Gardena. The 96.6 kilometres of blue and easier is the most of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover too, 53 percent of the piste, against your 42.4.

It is also where the height of the skiing sits closest to yours. The village is at 1,800 metres, 237 above Val Gardena and the second highest of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, and 65 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres, against your 66. The skiing reaches 2,848 metres on a piste, 368 above your highest piste, so Arosa is snow sure on our measure, with the call standing on the runs.

What you give up is the softness and the tradition. Twenty-four percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against your 13, and the reds average 21.8, 4.5 points steeper than yours. The blacks, at 32.4 percent, are the steepest of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover. We class Arosa as a family resort rather than a traditional one.

Our matching puts Adelboden closer to Val Gardena than any other resort we cover, in any country. It is a classic chalet village linked to Lenk, traditional and warm by our read, with families and the World Cup on its list. The gentle share is close, 38 percent against your 40, and the blacks average 26.1 percent at both. Even the pass works the same way as yours: 188 kilometres across five sectors that are not all joined, of which 85 can be skied from the village without transport, Lenk included.

On the slope the match comes apart. Twenty-five percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, the joint third biggest share of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, against your 13. The reds average 21.3, 4 points steeper than yours.

It is smaller and lower as well. We measure 115 kilometres around the village, 30.6 fewer than around Val Gardena, and the skiing tops out at 2,356 metres by our measure, below even the highest piste at Val Gardena; only two of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover top out lower. Fifty-five percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres, but with the skiing stopping at 2,356, Adelboden is not snow sure on our measure. The village is 213 metres below yours.