Like Zermatt, but in Austria: you can have the glacier, not the village

If what keeps you going back to Zermatt is the certainty of snow high up, Sölden is your best bet in Austria. Its skiing reaches 3,306 metres, the highest of the Austrian resorts we cover, on two glaciers, the Rettenbach and the Tiefenbach, linked into the rest of the mountain. It is snow sure on our measure: 89 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres. The season runs from late November into May, long, though not year round.

There is more easy ground than you have at home, too: 76.8 kilometres of blue and easier, more than twice Zermatt's 32.7. The catch is in the gradient. Those blues average 17.3 percent, all but level with Zermatt's reds, and 30 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four. So a Zermatt skier who cruises the reds will be comfortable on Sölden's blues and will find the reds a step up, averaging 23.7 percent. There are 19.0 kilometres of black, against 11.2.

What you give up is the village. Sölden is sporty and lively by our read, with nightlife on its list, and it is a long village with a busy road running through it, the opposite of Zermatt's quiet lanes. Hochsölden, above the village, is the calmer, higher base. The town itself sits at 1,368 metres, 252 below Zermatt, and there is no marked itinerary that we measure.

Our matching puts Ischgl nearest to Zermatt of the Austrian resorts we cover, and on size it is almost exact: we measure 152 kilometres of piste around Ischgl, against 150.5 around Zermatt. It even has the cross border day out. Where Zermatt skis over to Italy, Ischgl's lifts take you into Switzerland, to duty free Samnaun, and back for tea. It is snow sure on our measure, with 90 percent of the piste we measure above 1,800 metres, the second biggest share of the Austrian resorts we cover.

Its reds are the kindest of our three picks, averaging 20.7 percent, well under the Austrian average. But there are more of the steep runs: 34 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, and 26.8 kilometres is black.

The trade is the top and the mood. Ischgl's skiing stops at 2,868 metres by our measure, 1,001 below Zermatt's, so there is no glacier to fall back on. It has 10.6 kilometres of marked off piste itinerary, less than half Zermatt's 23.1. And it is high energy by our read, with nights out that are its whole reputation. Zermatt has bars that stay open. Ischgl has a party that the village is built around.

Hintertux is the pick that matches Zermatt's calendar. In our own description it is the only Austrian glacier open every day of the year, and its season is year round, as Zermatt's is. It has the biggest share of high piste of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover, 96 percent above 1,800 metres, and its skiing reaches 3,239 metres by our measure, the second highest top of the Austrian resorts we cover. It is snow sure on our measure, comfortably.

The area comes in pieces. The glacier itself is 62 kilometres. Ski Zillertal 3000, at 206 kilometres, is a bus ride away, and the bigger Zillertal pass figure counts some of the same runs twice, so do not add them up. We measure 110 kilometres around Hintertux.

And the skiing is a different animal from Zermatt's. Its blues average 19.3 percent, the second steepest of the 55 resorts we cover, and 32 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four. There are 2.9 kilometres of black and no marked itinerary that we measure. Our read on it is snowy and no frills, a training glacier as much as a holiday resort. Its village, at 1,500 metres, is 120 below Zermatt's, and the top is 630 lower.