Many of the planned outdoor events, including competitions and races, were cancelled due to the weather, and strong wind kept the chairlifts motionless until lunchtime.
When the chairlifts eventually did start, the visitors who had braved the rain and sleet were rewarded with plenty of room on the slopes.
It might have been soft spring-like snow, but many commented they were happy with a Sunday afternoon with no lift queues.
Ski area manager Ross Lawrence said it was still a great celebration.
"It was disappointing the weather was not really on our side today, when we had so many things planned for our visitors.
"I would have like to hear the Jordan Luck Band play outside, but they had to move indoors to the cafe.
"But we still had fun, and our staff and a lot of the visitors had put great effort into dressing up in the fashion of 1985," he said.
Adding to the bright neon colours of the one-piece ski suits and retro ski gear, face paint lit up the children's faces.
Out on the slopes, a few pairs of long, narrow '80s-style skis were spotted.
The idea to open a skifield behind the ridgeline of the Remarkables mountains near Queenstown was fostered in the '70s, and consent was sought by the Mount Cook Group.
There was controversy about the proposed access road to the skifield.
It took six years to get permission and a further five years of construction work.
The skifield had been a dream for Mount Cook boss Sir Henry Wigley, who died in 1980 before he could see it open.
The skifield opened in August 1985 with the Alta and Shadow Basin chairlifts, and added the Sugar Bowl chairlift the following year.
In 2002, the skifield was sold - along with Coronet Peak and Mt Hutt ski areas - to a consortium of Queenstown businessmen who today operate under the name NZSki.
Snowboarding was becoming popular in New Zealand, and the Remarkables was quick to ride that new wave.
"Our terrain lends itself well to snowboarding, and the parks add to that. Many snowboarders have claimed the Remarks as `their' mountain," Mr Lawrence.
He said many people who skied at the Remarkables in the '80s were still regulars.
