Mark Denton, Daniel Jenkins, Ben Rotto and Tim Lawrence, of Queenstown, spent 15 hours by the base building, from Friday evening until the official ski season was launched at 8.30am.
They sat on deck chairs beneath a tarpaulin for shelter in order to be the first on the virgin powder.
Tim Lawrence, son of the Remarkables ski area manager Ross Lawrence, said the quartet fell asleep for all of 15 minutes and woke up with numb feet.
But being first on the slopes was worth it.
"We had a gas cooker for soup and stuff packed with caffeine to keep us awake. We didn't really think it through. It feels good to get it over with."
They received T-shirts printed with "Coronet Peak: First on the Chair 2009", and a glass of bubbly from sponsor Lindauer for their effort.
Other snow enthusiasts arrived from 6am on Saturday.
The morning temperature was -1degC, with the wind chill factor taking it down to -5degC up top.
The 203 automated snow-making machines had been in use all week to form 60cm-70cm of snow on the trails and continued all day.
The snow base was 80cm at the peak and 50cm at the base when skiers and riders ventured out.
The six-seater Greengates Express, four-seater Coronet Express and two-seater Meadows chairlifts were all open at the same time, which was unusual so early in the season.
The green button was pushed on Coronet Express at 8.30am, 30 minutes ahead of schedule, much to the delight of queuing skiers.
NZSki chief executive James Coddington said: "We want to exceed customer expectations. We were ready and able, so we did."
About 150 of the 220 NZSki staff were working.
More than 3000 skiers and snow boarders were estimated to have been on the mountain on Saturday.
"This is a fantastic start to what we are expecting to be one of our best seasons ever and it's great to see both locals and tourists enjoying themselves," Mr Coddington said.
Queenstown resident Trent Yeo was enjoying the start of his third season and was pleased to see so many familiar Wakatipu faces.
"It's a bit like a reunion, catching up with everyone you haven't seen for a season. All the faces are in different clothing and you're trying to recognise them."
