Every resort page carries the same handful of numbers: slope kilometres, a split into easy, intermediate and expert, a lift count, and base and top elevations. They look objective. They are half objective; the rest depends on who counted, how the resort grades its runs, and whether the figure describes the village or the whole linked area. This guide explains what they mean, where they mislead, and how to read them for your level, with worked examples from our database.
The colour codes: Europe and North America
Slope colours are set by each resort, not by a governing body, and the two main systems do not line up.
| Difficulty | Europe | North America | Typical gradient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very easy / nursery | Green (France, Spain, Scandinavia; rarely Austria or Switzerland) | Green circle | Under 15% |
| Easy | Blue | Green circle | Up to roughly 25% |
| Intermediate | Red | Blue square | Roughly 25 to 40% |
| Difficult | Black | Black diamond | Over 40% |
| Very difficult | Black; some resorts add orange or yellow for marked freeride routes | Double black diamond | Steep, often ungroomed |
Three things follow. A European blue is not a North American blue: the blue square is an intermediate run. In Austria and Switzerland most nursery terrain is simply marked blue, so those countries look short of “very easy” runs when they have plenty. And gradient thresholds are guidelines: a gentle mountain will grade its steepest run black even if it would be red elsewhere. Japanese resorts generally use a three-colour green, red and black scheme, closer to the European reading.
Our database collapses the categories into three: easy (green and blue in Europe, green in North America), intermediate (red or blue square) and expert (black and above). The shares let you compare an Austrian valley with a Colorado ridge without translating colours first.
What the km shares tell you
Thirty-five resorts in our database have a full breakdown, and they set the scale:
- The median easy share is 28%. Anything at 30% or more is a beginner-leaning profile; below 20% means beginners will spend the week on a small part of the mountain.
- The intermediate share is the largest category almost everywhere, 40 to 60%. The question is how big the total is: 50% of 100 km is a week of repeats and 50% of 300 km is not.
- The expert share runs from 19% to 50%. Above 30% is a genuinely steep mountain. Read it alongside the off-piste flag; much of what experts care about is not a marked run.
Two warnings. How slope kilometres are measured has been argued over in the Alps for years, so treat totals as comparable within a country rather than between them. And some resort pages give the km of the whole linked ski area: in our data some Dolomiti Superski villages show 1,200 km and each 3 Vallées village shows 600 km. Those are ski-area figures, not the terrain outside your hotel door.
Lifts, vertical and altitude
Lift count on its own says little: a nursery drag lift and a 30-person cable car both count as one. Divide kilometres by lifts and the picture changes. Hakuba has 137 km on 111 lifts, about 1.2 km per lift, which means many short lifts. Lake Louise has 145 km on 10 lifts, 14.5 km per lift: a few long, fast chairs each opening a whole face. Most Alpine resorts in our data fall between two and five km per lift. A high figure can mean long runs and little waiting, or one queue at a single access gondola; the resort page and the modern-lifts flag help you tell which.
Vertical drop is top minus base, and a better guide to run length than the km total. Chamonix has the largest vertical in our database, 2,807 m from 1,035 m to 3,842 m, on a modest 152 km. Breckenridge has a 1,037 m vertical, but its base at 2,926 m is the highest in the database, above the midpoint of Chamonix’s vertical. Base elevation is the figure to check for early or late trips; top elevation tells you how far you can retreat when it warms up.
Worked examples
Five contrasting profiles from the data.
| Resort | Slopes | Easy | Intermediate | Expert | Lifts | Elevation | Vertical |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mayrhofen, Austria | 142 km | 44 km (31%) | 66 km (46%) | 32 km (23%) | 58 | 630–2,500 m | 1,870 m |
| Ischgl, Austria | 239 km | 48 km (20%) | 143 km (60%) | 48 km (20%) | 45 | 1,377–2,872 m | 1,495 m |
| St. Anton, Austria | 305 km | 132 km (43%) | 122 km (40%) | 51 km (17%) | 88 | 1,304–2,811 m | 1,507 m |
| Jackson Hole, United States | 133 km | 13 km (10%) | 53 km (40%) | 67 km (50%) | 13 | 1,924–3,185 m | 1,261 m |
| Courchevel, France | 600 km (3 Vallées ski area) | 336 km (56%) | 204 km (34%) | 60 km (10%) | 166 | 1,300–3,230 m | 1,930 m |
Mayrhofen: the beginner-friendly all-rounder
An easy share of 31% is the second highest in our data, with 58 lifts for 142 km (2.4 km per lift, so short waits) and a 1,870 m vertical. The 630 m base is low, which is why the snow-sure flag matters. With a 23% expert share and an off-piste flag, it works for a mixed group.
Ischgl: built for intermediates
Sixty percent intermediate is the highest share in our data, on 239 km, so an intermediate can ski a week without repeating a run. Easy and expert shares are equal at 20%: neither a beginner resort nor a specialist steep one. A 1,377 m base and a season into May underpin the snow-sure flag.
St. Anton: expert-leaning Europe
Ski Arlberg’s 305 km on 88 lifts is big, and the split is a good lesson in what a grading does not say. Only 51 km, 17%, is marked black, and 132 km, 43%, is blue. Yet St. Anton is the Alpine byword for hard skiing, because its name was made on unmarked terrain that no piste grading counts, and it is the one of these six that carries an off-piste flag in our data. Read the split for what a piste map will offer you, then read the flags and the reputation for what lies beyond the markers.
Jackson Hole: the specialist
Half the terrain is expert and 10% is easy. Thirteen lifts for 133 km is 10.2 km per lift: a handful of big lifts opening big faces. A beginner here skis a small corner while the group disappears. This is an expert profile in numbers: expert share above 40%, easy share around 10%, few lifts, and the off-piste flag.
Courchevel: reading a ski-area figure
The 600 km, 166 lifts and 56/34/10 split describe the whole 3 Vallées, which is why Méribel and Val Thorens show identical numbers. Use them to judge whether the linked area suits your group, then use the local elevation figures to pick the village: Courchevel’s 1,300 m base against Val Thorens at 2,300 m says which has snow to the door in December.
How to use the compare tool
The compare tool puts two or more resorts side by side. A routine that works:
- Decide which share matters for the weakest skier in your group, then check it in absolute km, not just percent.
- Compare km per lift and the modern-lifts flag to judge queues.
- Compare base elevation for your travel dates, and top elevation for a spring trip.
- Check whether the km figure is a village or a ski-area total, and compare like with like.
Without candidates yet, start with the resort finder, which filters by level and features, or the rankings hub, which lists top resorts for beginners and families by country.
Quick answers
Is a European blue run the same as an American blue?
No. A European blue is an easy run; an American blue square is intermediate, roughly equivalent to a European red. American green circles are the easy runs.
What easy-slope share makes a resort good for beginners?
Thirty percent or more, in our data, where the median is 28%. Also check where the easy runs are: a gentle valley run beats an easy area only reachable by two lifts.
Does more lifts mean a better resort?
Not by itself. Divide slope km by lifts: around 1 to 2 km per lift suggests many short, older lifts; 6 km or more suggests a few long, fast ones. Two to five is typical of the Alps.
Why do some resorts show the same slope statistics?
Because they report the whole linked ski area: Courchevel, Méribel and Val Thorens all show the 3 Vallées’ 600 km. Compare elevation figures, which are village-specific.
