Tignes or Zermatt: both high and snow sure, but not the same skiing

Altitude: Tignes wins at the door, Zermatt at the summit

Tignes's village sits at 2,100 metres, the second highest of the 55 resorts we cover and 480 metres above Zermatt's 1,620. Zermatt answers at the other end. Its skiing reaches 3,869 metres by our measure, at the top lift station it shares with Cervinia, the joint highest of the 55 resorts we cover and 420 metres above Tignes's 3,449, which is itself the highest of the 17 French resorts we cover.

The middle of the mountain goes to Zermatt as well. Half its piste is above 2,634 metres, against 2,441 at Tignes, and 85 percent of it is above 2,200 metres, against 77. The village is lower. The skiing is not.

Both are snow sure on our measure. At Tignes, 97 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to 3,449 metres. At Zermatt it is 99 percent, up to 3,869. On that share Zermatt is joint third and Tignes joint fifth of the 55 we cover. No one can promise snow, but almost all the skiing at both sits above that line. Zermatt's glacier runs all year; Tignes runs from late November to early May, with the Grande Motte glacier above it.

Where Tignes's height really pays is at the door. Ski in, ski out is the norm there, at a height Zermatt's village cannot match. Watch which village you book, though. Tignes is several, and the old hamlet of Les Brévières sits at around 1,550 metres, lower than Zermatt.

Size: Zermatt measures bigger, Tignes keeps it on one pass

Around the village we measure 150.5 kilometres of piste at Zermatt and 130 at Tignes, so Zermatt has more at the door. Across the whole linked area the two are close. Espace Killy, shared with Val d'Isère, is 300 kilometres, a figure we have checked against our own measurement. The Matterhorn area measures 322 kilometres by our count, against the 360 you will see quoted.

The difference is the pass. Espace Killy is one pass for all of it. Zermatt's 322 includes Cervinia on the Italian side, which needs the International pass rather than the Zermatt one. Either is more than a week's skiing for most groups, so size should not decide this, though Zermatt adds an Italian lunch if you buy the bigger pass.

The skiing: Tignes has the steep piste, Zermatt goes off it

This is the real difference, and it runs against Zermatt's name. A quarter of Tignes's piste is steeper than one in four, close to the 26 percent at a typical resort we cover. At Zermatt it is 12 percent, the smallest share of the 55 we cover. Tignes has 20.5 kilometres of black, counting its double black, nearly twice Zermatt's 11.2.

Who each one actually suits

Tignes suits people who are there to ski, first lift to last, and want to step out of the door onto the snow. Strong piste skiers get the steeper runs and the black. Families do well: complete beginners have 17 kilometres of green to start on, the nursery areas sit close to the apartments, and the height makes a February half term less of a gamble. Nobody books it for the architecture. Convenience is the point, and it is easier on the budget than Zermatt. The evenings are lively without being relentless, centred on Val Claret and Le Lac.

Zermatt suits people for whom the view matters as much as the vertical: the car free streets, the Matterhorn over breakfast, and long lunches in the hamlet of Findeln. Mixed groups and confident intermediates do well on its long, kind reds, strong skiers go off piste with a guide, and families relax because there is no traffic. Ski in, ski out is the exception: most mornings start with a short walk or an electric taxi. The evenings are livelier than its reputation, but grown up.

A Zermatt red is gentler than a Tignes blue

Here is the thing most people comparing these two never find out. Tignes's blues average 17.6 percent, the second steepest of the 17 French resorts we cover. Zermatt's reds average 17.2. On the gradient, then, a typical red at Zermatt is a shade gentler than a typical blue at Tignes. Each country colours its runs on its own scale, and these two sit at opposite ends of theirs.

For a confident skier it hardly matters. For an improver it changes the answer. At Tignes the step from green to blue can feel bigger than expected. At Zermatt, once they trust that a Swiss red is not a French red, most of the mountain is open to them, and 35 percent of its piste is gentler than 15 percent, against 30 at Tignes. Complete beginners are still better off at Tignes, with its greens. Improvers who are past them will get more of Zermatt.