Super chill-outs: parties on the piste

European ski resorts have never been known for their cutting-edge nightlife, with evening entertainment traditionally consisting of sausages, schnapps and europop in small, sweaty discos.

But that's all about to change, thanks to a crop of new winter festivals that are attracting hedonistic Londoners to the slopes with a tempting combination of boarding and beats.

If your thighs are up to it, you can ski or snowboard all day, then dance all night, whatever your musical persuasion. The first Big Snow Festival will be taking dance act of the moment Calvin Harris and super-fashionable DJs including Toddla T Jaguar Skills and Kissy Sell Out to Arinsal in Andorra. Meanwhile, snow fans The Feeling are launching their very own indie-rock mountaintop jamboree, the Little World Festival, in Méribel, France, with a line-up of acts including Ed Harcourt, Fiction Plane and Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

Snowbombing, dubbed Ibiza on Ice, the biggest and most established of the frosty festivals, is set to be mightier than ever with Fat Boy Slim, 2ManyDJs, Editors and Friendly Fires headlining the six-day bash in Mayrhofen, Austria, and party princess Jade Jagger hosting its Arctic Disco — a giant party igloo 10,000ft up a mountain, complete with a DJ booth carved into the ice. The line-up of The Brits festival in Laax, Switzerland, is soon to be announced, while Altitude festival, also in Méribel, throws laughter into the mix, with comedians including Andrew Maxwell and Phill Jupitus as well as music from acts such as Newton Faulkner and The Cuban Brothers.

This winter's Alpine invasion by British bands, DJs, comedians and fans is partly the result of the public's seemingly insatiable appetite for the festival experience, according to Richard Jones of The Feeling. "Summer festivals are still enormously popular, but have probably reached saturation point, and people are after something a little different now, not simply another festival in a another field," he says. Plus, nothing blows a hangover away quite like a black run.

The shows on snow offer something extra to winter sports enthusiasts too, says comedian Marcus Brigstocke, co-founder of Altitude. "If you've been skiing more than a couple of times, and you've done the whole fondue experience, it can get a bit repetitive. Comedy on the slopes is something different, and means that when you come off the mountain for the day, there are great things to do apart from just eating cheese."

XFM DJ Eddy Temple-Morris, the curator of the Big Snow Festival, believes that the piste and partying go hand-in-ski-gloved-hand. "My two favourite things in the whole year are the Secret Garden Party [festival in Cambridgeshire] and going up the mountain, and I'm hugely excited that this is going to be a combination of the two." He's played previously at Snowbombing and Tignesfest, and says: "As an experience, it's unbeatable. The combination of gruelling physical exertion in the day followed by glühwein and music at altitude and I'm flying."

Compared with most UK festivals, numbers are small: about 4,000 party people will be taking over the Tyrol (many entirely in fancy dress) at Snowbombing, up to 9,000 comedy fans are anticipated at Altitude, and just 1,000 at the inaugural Big Snow Festival — all predominantly British, and mainly aged 18 to 40. But their intimacy is also a large part of their appeal. "There's a real camaraderie at these events in a way there just isn't at UK festivals," says Temple-Morris. "Big-name bands and DJs all mingle with the crowd. Punters and artists ski and snowboard together all day and drink together at night in a way that is quite unique. I'm looking forward to messing about in the snow again with a crowd of like-minded new friends."

Brigstocke agrees. "There's a real feeling of a shared experience, which works very well for comedy. There's an atmosphere of togetherness, and comedians and musicians are falling over themselves to come out for it because it's such a brilliant laugh. KT Tunstall even played for free last year, and we gave the money to the World Wildlife Fund, which we raise funds for as part of the ­festival."

Claudia Avila-Batchelor, who organises the decidedly democratic Tignesfest, keeps the entire five-day festival free as a way of showcasing new British and European bands and DJs.