Like Zürs, but in France: nearly everything but the quiet

Our matching puts Val d'Isère closer to Zürs than any other French resort we cover, and it keeps four of the things it compares: the off piste, the village height, the steep and the upmarket feel. Our one line is a high altitude classic that skis big and stays up late, we class it upmarket, lively and expert, and high altitude, advanced skiers and lively evenings are its list.

The off piste comes with it. There are 29 kilometres of marked itinerary, the fifth most of the 55 resorts we cover, against your 40, and the longest single route we measure, the Col Pers, runs 4.9 kilometres with 917 metres of descent, against 2.3 kilometres and 689 metres for Zürs's longest. The steep is close: 29 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 33, and the reds average 23.9 percent, against 24.2. There are 22 kilometres of black against 6.

Then it settles the snow question. The village is at 1,850 metres, 130 above yours, and 100 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, the joint biggest share of the 55 resorts we cover, up to 3,205 metres, 765 above Zürs's top. On our measure Val d'Isère is snow sure, and its season runs from late November to early May. It is much bigger, too: the Espace Killy, shared with Tignes, is 300 kilometres, and we measure 158 around the village alone, against 75.

The trade is the hush. Lively evenings are on Val d'Isère's list, and our guide has a party up the mountain in the afternoon and bars that stay open late. If the quiet still matters, our guide's answer is Le Fornet, the quiet hamlet at the eastern end of the resort. You fly to Geneva.

Tignes, on the same pass, sits higher still. Its village is at 2,100 metres, the second highest of the 55 resorts we cover and 380 above Zürs, and it is snow sure on our measure: 97 percent of its piste is at or above 1,800 metres, up to 3,449 metres. But we class it modern, our read is practical and high, and only 25 percent of its piste is steeper than one in four. Our matching finds none of the things it compares carrying over from Zürs. For a Zürs skier it is the same pass as Val d'Isère from a higher, more practical base.

If the itineraries are why you go to Zürs, Chamonix has more of them. There are 44 kilometres of marked itinerary, the most of the 17 French resorts we cover and the third most of the 55 resorts we cover, against your 40. The longest, the Vallée Blanche, runs 7.2 kilometres with 1,393 metres of descent on our measure, and our guide is clear that it is a route for a qualified mountain guide.

The piste is steeper as well. Thirty nine percent of it is steeper than one in four, the joint sixth biggest share of the 55 resorts we cover, against 33, and the reds average 27.0 percent, the fifth steepest of the 55 resorts we cover, against 24.2. There are 22.9 kilometres of black against 6. Our one line is a real mountain town under the biggest peak in the Alps, we class it expert, and expert terrain, mountaineering and town life are its list.

The snow is a call we have not made. Seventy percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against your 74, and the highest piste we measure is at 3,222 metres, on the Grands Montets, 782 above Zürs's top. Chamonix's highest lift is a mountaineering cable car, not a piste top, so we judge it on the piste, and that call is still open.

What you give up is the village Zürs gives you. Chamonix is at 1,035 metres, 685 below Zürs. We class it neither upmarket nor quiet, our read is a real working town, and our guide describes a string of separate ski areas joined by bus and train rather than by lift, with a lively town between them. Its area is not classified in our data; we measure 102.5 kilometres. You fly to Geneva, and the season runs from December to May.