Queenstown snow-lovers only have a month to wait to make the first runs of the season, with the Coronet Peak skifield scheduled to open on June 4.
The opening of Coronet Peak skifield will be followed by those of Mt Hutt and Remarkables skifields on the next two weekends, respectively.
NZSki general manager sales and marketing, Craig Douglas, said everything was running according to schedule.
"All of the guys have been pretty busy. They got an early start on things this season, so everything's coming together as planned.
"They have had a couple of challenging days up there, with the snowfalls; but it has not delayed them at all."
Now it was now just a matter of recruiting and training staff, and "tidying up and making sure it's all working for when it snows".
The Coronet Peak works include a novice trail from the top of the Meadows chairlift, a Kids Fun zone, five new snow guns, a "magic carpet" conveyor lift to the learners area, trail widening and secondary wastewater treatment plant upgrades.
Over at the Remarkables, a dozen new snow guns have been installed. The Turquoise, Casterway and Sunrise Face trails have been modified, 3.4km of extra guardrails have been installed on the access road and there are four new four-wheel-drive access buses.
Mr Douglas said NZSki was confident it could open on the set dates because of its experience, history and investment in snow-making equipment.
"History suggests that we will get the temperatures, but if we don't get the snow, it's less of a challenge, with our snow-makers."
Despite controversy over the prices for this year's early-bird passes, Mr Douglas said NZSki was "really happy" with sales.
NZSki said last month that there had been a change in the mix of season passes sold this year, but the balance of sales were in line with expectations, and "similar to last year; a result that bodes well for the winter tourism industry".
Mr Douglas this week said it was difficult to say exactly how sales of main season passes were looking, but the indications were positive.
"As most of those are purchased on the day, it's a small base to measure off, but we are ahead of where we were last year."
