Jane Sparkes, who lives in the area, said she intended to drive to her horse paddock at the bottom of a hill, but after watching two cars in front of her end up ''off the road'', she parked her vehicle and walked down Dalefield Rd.
''Honestly, you couldn't even stand on it. It was just chaos.''
She and other residents ultimately stopped traffic at either end of the hill themselves after failing to get hold of the Queenstown Lakes District Council or the police to come and close the road.
''A friend of mine was trying to ring the council and say `look, you've got to get someone out here to close the road'.
''No-one would make a decision to close it and because there were already three cars off the road and cars spinning around in circles, we just had to do something.''
Ms Sparkes was critical of council contractor Downer, with no sign of a grit truck until just before 11am.
''This is an alpine resort town. It [delays like that] shouldn't happen.''
Making the situation more dangerous was the number of vehicles on the road, many of those driven by residents of the nearby Lake Hayes Estate and Shotover Country subdivisions.
Intersection improvements on State Highway 6 near Glenda Drive was causing delays for morning commuters, so many were choosing to cut through Dalefield Rd and travel via Malaghans Rd into Queenstown, she said.
''That road is basically being used as a highway now ... the traffic, I would say, has increased by about 80% [and] that was before the skifields opened.
''Maybe the contractors were pulled off [this morning] ... they don't see that as a main thoroughfare or an arterial route, but it actually is.''
A council spokesman said Downer was in action with ''all available resources'' at 3am yesterday, working initially on ''priority routes''.
Those roads include Gorge Rd, Arthurs Point Rd, Malaghans Rd, Arrowtown-Lake Hayes Rd, and Peninsula Rd.
''With approximately 460km of sealed roads in the district affected by widespread packed ice, this unfortunately saw some priority two roads, including those in the Dalefield area, serviced later than normal.''
The spokesman said motorists were advised at 6.30am to use chains if they were attempting to travel on non-gritted roads.
''When these extreme conditions arise, council asks motorists to please be patient, take their time and drive to the conditions.''
