The ski area officially opened on Saturday, but like neighbouring skifield Coronet Peak, it was limited, with only the Tahi and Rua magic carpets operating.
Mr Lawrence said about 700 people, many of whom had never been in snow before, took the opportunity to play in it, but he expected another trail would be open in "a week at the most", enabling the first chairlift to start.
"Freezing levels have been sitting around 2000 metres over the past few days, but we’ve been successfully making snow, with fairly dry conditions up there, right through that period ... so we’re not complaining."
Coronet Peak ski area manager Nigel Kerr said he was "pleasantly surprised" with the start of the season, having opened the Meadows Express and Magic Carpets for skiing and riding.
"The numbers have been good.
"The key thing is that we wouldn’t want many more than what we’ve had — it’s been a nice number, great for staff ... great for the slopes; a bit of pressure, but not too much, it’s just been really good."
The inversion layer, which had hampered snowmaking efforts at Coronet, was likely to disappear soon, but Mr Kerr did not expect snowmaking crews to "make anything of anything" over the next few days.
"We made quite a bit of snow up top [on Saturday night] ... but it’s not looking too good for the next couple of days.
"We’re really looking ... to the end of the week and going, ‘right, we really need to get there’, and I think we will.
"Then it’s going to start to get busy, and that’ll be interesting."
