A woman who was trying to retrieve a lost snowboard ignored danger signs before she slipped and plunged over a cliff to her death at Whakapapa ski field.
A group of climbers witnessed the fall at the weekend and went to her aid but the 44-year-old woman from Otaki was pronounced dead at the scene.
Constable Conrad Smith of National Park police said the woman was walking back from the West Ridge chairlift towards the Waterfall T-bar in an area known as the Amphitheatre on Saturday when she lost grip of her board.
It slipped down hill and she went after it.
"She's gone past warning signs and dangers signs to look for her board and she's fallen off a cliff," Mr Smith said.
The woman, who had left her friends who she'd been skiing with earlier, fell 15m vertically before tumbling a further 100m-150m.
A nearby climbing party, an unrelated group, witnessed the fall and raised the alarm, he said.
The climbers arrived by her side shortly before Whakapapa Ski Patrol about midday.
A doctor was called to the scene who pronounced her dead a short time later.
"It's very sad," said Mr Smith.
"It again highlights the need for people to be aware of warning signs."
