In the crisp Swedish morning my derrière is deep in cross-country snow; by the evening it's bouncing up and down on a concert seat to a classical jam. Vinterfest is a chamber music festival - but not as you know it. Held around Lake Siljan, halfway up gangly Sweden (3 hours by train from Stockholm Arlanda airport), Vinterfest presents superb music in an area better known for its winter sports. Long-distance skaters glide across icy lakes; cross-country skiers dart through frozen forests.

We are in Dalarna, “the heart of Sweden”, where remoteness has nurtured an other-worldliness and preserved traditions. Red wooden houses dot the snow-dusted landscape in this region, the home of the little red wooden Dala horse - the national symbol - which you can watch being handmade at the Nusnäs factory.

Vinterfest springs from a lengthy arts heritage. Mora, our lakeside base, is the birthplace of the 19th-century artist Anders Zorn. Zorn made his money painting US presidents and high society. But his passion was celebrating the folk music and rural traditions of his home town, paintings of which hang in the Zorn Museum, next door to the big man's grand home, Zorngarden.

Now in its third year, Vinterfest has the unmistakable feel of personal passion and is the vision of Karin Switz, the director of the Dalarna chamber orchestra. Switz's trump card was to attract the international clarinettist Martin Fröst to the role of artistic director.

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Fröst has introduced an ambitious musical programme; in a week of 14 concerts we hear everything from Bach, played in a candlelit Lutheran church, to the contemporary Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, and a trombone recital performed in the equivalent of a B&Q store (a few puzzled faces at that one). Fröst has also called in impressive solo favours.

The young Dutch violinist Janine Jansen takes the stage, as does the local-born star Wagnerian contralto Anna Larsson and the Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto, an irrepressible mix of baby-faced charm and fiery talent.

Catching these artists at an intimate breakfast for 60 is a thrill for classical musos and newbies alike. I sat close enough to Fröst to have turned his score - or offered him some muesli. You won't experience that at the grander festivals in Aix-en-Provence or Tuscany.

But what keeps your musical appetite alive at Vinterfest is the crisp outdoors. The Grönklitt ski resort is only 30 minutes by car, passing through elk and bear forests. Among the Swedish, Dutch and Norwegians I meet two Suffolk families enjoying the low-key vibe with their teenage daughters. Our first stop for exhilaration is a guided snowmobile safari (about £50). After a few minutes' instruction in the handlebar controls, engines roar and

we're off. Winding along forest tracks, nerves evaporate as we speed across snowfields, pushing 110mph. Here's a tip: wear a balaclava or suffer the windchill freezing your face into a rictus of terror. Halfway around our 30-mile safari we stop to let a husky team pass. After the racket we've been making, all is snowy silence. The dogs, magnificent with their heavy coats and unearthly blue eyes, glide away, pulling their passengers with delight and effortless speed.

The real attraction here, however, is cross-country skiing, celebrated in the Vasaloppet race. The skiing equivalent of the London Marathon lures 15,000 competitors to its 145-mile cross-country route.

After travelling an outstanding three miles in one hour (ski pass about £3 a day; adult skis from £10 day), I've strained muscles that I hope never to be aware of again. Crosscountry may lack the downhill thrill, but it rewards you with swishing through forests of pine, dappled by bright sunlight. Swedish families will ski off for a few hours of this, stopping for hot chocolate and a sitdown.

Our recovery is more indulgent: a lunch of roast bear, elk and moose laced with typically Swedish lingonberry jam and rich, creamy sauce, enjoyed at the Fryksås Hotell. Managed by Dave Watson, an Englishman who met his Swedish wife, Lena, while captaining a yacht around the Mediterranean, Fryskås is luxuriously welcoming. One of the six tastefully refurbished cabins would easily accommodate a family of up to eight.

But what's calling me is the outdoor hot tub. We soak away our aches, gazing from snowy mountains over Lake Orsa far below. Perfect preparation for the standout concert of the week: a late-night, classical-jazz jam. Switz aimed to make her festival “young and sharp” and with this hoedown, Vinterfest succeeds.

This is Later With Jools Holland on ice: classical, jazz and folk clash in a thrilling night. And it is variety - of music, Dalarna traditions, a winter playground - that makes Vinterfest so stimulating. At last, a classical music festival that rocks.

Need to know

Vinterfest 2009 (www.vinterfest.nu) is from February 12-15 at Mora, Orsa and Alvdalen. Concert tickets are from £8 to £20.

Getting there SAS (0871 5212772, www.flysas.com) has flights to Stockholm from Heathrow, London City and Manchester airports, from £122 return. The train (www.sj.se) from Stockholm Arlanda airport to Mora takes 3 hours and costs about £47 return.

Staying there B&B at the Mora Parken Hotell (00 46 2502 7600, www.moraparken.se) is from about £78 for a double room. Fryksås Hotell (00 46 2504 6020, www.fryksashotell.se) has double rooms from about £128 including breakfast.

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