He arrived on the field yesterday afternoon to spend a night in the snow with "a few jackets, two sleeping bags, a wetsuit and a couple of tarpaulins".
Originally, he was to be joined overnight by three friends but they had "chickened out" so he decided to brave the elements alone.
"It's a bit of a challenge. I have a few dollars to win from bets at work so there's a bit of pride involved. I've told my mum I'm doing it, so I have to do it," he said yesterday.
Staff at The Cow restaurant had placed $61 in bets that he would not complete the challenge. Yesterday, the chairlift was opened by 80-something Les Brough, who has skied at Coronet Peak since it opened in 1947.
He was joined in the opening ceremony by NZSki chairman John Davies and CEO James Coddington Mr Davies said he had been keen to find the safest lift option since he saw his grandchild fall off the previous Meadows chairlift two years ago.
The first passengers yesterday were Mr Davies' grandchildren Georgie (7) and Johnny (5) Ffiske, along with Mr Coddington's daughter Olivia (7) and Keir Roberts (7) from Arrowtown.
They all agreed the new lift was "fast and easy to get off".
Ski area manager Hamish McCrostie said the snow cover was "acceptable" for today's opening -"great up at the top, but thin in places at the lower half of the mountain."
Fine weather is forecast for today, but cloudy, with some rain expected, tomorrow.
