All Wanaka skifields reported "light dustings" of snow yesterday, but the drop in temperatures was what they had been waiting for to get the most out of their snow-making facilities.
Snow Park general manager Sam Lee said the field's snowguns were turned on at 1am yesterday and the cold weather forecast for the next few days meant it was likely they would be working around the clock.
A decision would be made today whether the 60ha terrain park would open for the weekend.
Cardrona Alpine Resort spokesman Bruce McGeechan said the field got about 10cm of snow on its upper slopes overnight and staff were "snow-making like crazy".
He was quietly confident Cardrona would open as scheduled on Friday.
Treble Cone's slopes received about 5cm of snow and all the skifield's snowguns were operating, spokesman Sam Williams said.
It is planned to open on June 30.
In the Wakatipu district, Coronet Peak has been closed since June 13 having managed to open just five days out of 16 so far this year, while the Remarkables, which was scheduled to open on Saturday, is waiting for at least another 30cm to fall.
In the interim, the "non-core" staff at both skifields have been stood down, effectively on leave without pay.
Coronet Peak ski area manager Hamish McCrostie said yesterday a "dusting" of snow overnight had cooled the temperature on the mountain, snow-making had been in progress since 3am yesterday and there were high hopes snow would fall this morning.
Remarkables ski area manager Ross Lawrence said yesterday afternoon there was a 30cm base at Sugarbowl Chair and 10cm at the base, but, despite snowmaking for 24 hours to yesterday afternoon, another 30cm to 50cm of snow was needed before the field could open.
